


Married at last

by Edom



Series: Happy endings [2]
Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anti-Craig, Anti-Mikey, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-26
Updated: 2010-11-27
Packaged: 2017-10-13 09:40:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/135862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edom/pseuds/Edom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to 'No more pushing'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Married at last

**Author's Note:**

> Beta by TayTay4936, I couldn't do any of it without you.

The morning after the wedding, the newlyweds didn’t sleep as late as they would have liked. They felt they had to get up to show the boys around the house and tell them about their new schools.

They got up and took a shower before they went to wake up the boys. When John and Peter were dressed and ready they went downstairs and into the kitchen. When they stood just inside the door, Justin started the first part of the tour of the house.

“Through the door over there to the right is the mudroom and if you go right through you can go out to the garage. To the left is the dining room. We will mostly just eat in here though unless we have company.”

Both boys look around with their mouths hanging open they had never seen a kitchen this big.

“Well boys, I have made you some pancakes and there is toast, juice, and coffee.” Mrs. Jacobson said from behind the stove.

All four of them sat at the dining table in the kitchen and dug in. After breakfast was done, they went back out in the hallway.

“The door to the left is a bathroom and across from that is my studio.” Justin went to the left and across the hall, he opened the door and the boys followed him in. It was a large room with light pooling in from the large bay window that occupied the entire side of the building facing the garden.

“Is that what you do all day? You just paint pictures? Don’t you have a real job?” John asked vehemently.

Brian was just about to say something when Justin put his hand up to stop him.

“Yes, that is what I do. I’m an artist. I also draw a comic book with a friend of ours. Your uncle and I are about to start a gallery where my work will be exhibited alongside other artists. Shall we continue with the tour?”

The boys nodded and they all stepped out into the hall again. They went to the room next door to the studio, which was the office. There were two desks with a computer on each, bookcases filled with binders and not much else. It was strictly a workroom.

In the next room, the boys got a bit more animated. They had stepped into every kid’s dream. There were a huge flat screen TV on the wall, under it was a DVD player and several gaming machines. On the walls on either side of the TV were bookcases with films and games.

Both boys looked around with big eyes until John saw that the grown ups were watching them and he put an indifferent look on his face again.

“Can we play games and watch movies in here?” Peter was still enough of a kid to be exited about the thought of all that fun.

“We will have some rules about how much time you can use and that your homework will have to be done first. But other than that, yes you can use this room.” Brian was smiling at the boy.

“Wow.” Peter was impressed but John just kept scowling.

Form the media room they went to the living room. It was the room in which Brian had proposed to Justin. There was a fireplace and above about a third of the room was a balcony containing a library. In front of the bookcases were a group of very plush reclining chairs and a lot of lamps.

In the living room were a sofa, two easy chairs, and a few chaise lounges. The walls of all the rooms were decorated with Justin’s work except the bedroom where “the naked guy” painting hung.

When the tour was finished, they went to the living room and Brian told the boys to sit in the sofa. Justin and Brian sat in the easy chairs.

“We have arranged for your transcripts from your old schools to be sent to the new ones. Peter you have been enrolled in Margaret Bell Miller Middle School and John in Waynesburg Central High School. I thought we could take a drive and see both schools before you start tomorrow, how does that sound?”

Both boys shrugged and all four of them got up to take their coats and leave the house. When they got outside there stood a brand new dark grey Volvo XC90 with cream-colored leather seats.

Justin looked at the car and then looked around.

“Whose car is that? I don’t see anybody.”

“It’s yours Sunshine. It’s my wedding present to you, it’s big enough for the whole family, and when the back seats a collapsed there is room for your paintings in the back.”

Justin stared at Brian and then smiled brightly.

“It’s really my car? I love it, thank you so much.” Justin gave his husband a big kiss and took the keys Brian handed to him. He opened the car and everybody got in.

They drove past both schools and the boys looked at them without much interest.

“We will drive you to school tomorrow and go with you to the office and get you settled in. One of us will pick you up every day and if we can’t make it, Mr. Jacobson will. He is Mrs. Jacobson’s husband and he is our groundskeeper and handyman.” Brian said as they drove home.


	2. First day at school

When they got home, Justin drove his new car into the 4-car garage and they all went in through the mudroom and into the kitchen. Mrs. Jacobson had lunch ready for them and as they were eating, they talked.

“What do you say boys?” Brian asked.

“About what?” John was obviously not a happy camper.

“About the house, your rooms, your new schools, about the fact that you will be living with us, take your pick.” Brian looked straight at John and smiled slightly trying to ease the boy’s mind.

“I think it stinks.” John spat out.

“Which part?” Justin joined in the conversation.

“All of it. Why the fuck do we have to live out in the middle of nowhere with a couple of fags. We were doing fine with mom.”

“Obviously you weren’t doing fine. Your grades had dropped dramatically and you were getting into trouble with the law. Even if you don’t care what happens to you, I do. We are family.” Brian said softly.

“Ha, if you care, if we are family, then where the fuck have you been all these years? It’s not like you have been around a lot.” John was getting worked up and Peter was starting to look a little scared.

“I’ve been right here. Your mother and I don’t exactly get along and she only ever talks to me if she needs help with something, usually your grandmother. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really blame her for that, I haven’t exactly been trying to reach out a become friends with her either, it’s just to explain why you haven’t seen me around to much.”

“How about you Peter, you haven’t told what you think.” Justin looked at the boy and gave him one of his sunshine best.

“I think it’s a little scary. I miss my mother and I don’t really want to start a new school. The house is cool and I love my room, it’s almost like going to the library.” His eyes shone at that last part.

“I’m glad you like your room. I promise you that you will see your mother regularly, we will have her come here so that she can see where you live and see you new rooms. Maybe with time she can even stay here for a weekend once in a while. How does that sound?” Justin asked Peter and when he nodded, Justin looked at John and saw just a glimmer of hope in the depth of the boy’s eyes. “Now, have you guys ever tried riding a horse?”

Both boys’ eyes grew very large and they both shook their heads.

“Would you like to learn? Brian and I have talked about taken lessons and when we get good enough we would buy a couple of horses, we actually already have the stables. What do you say? Will you join us for riding lessons?”

Peter and John looked at each other and John gave a little shrug.

“That sounds cool. When do we start?” Peter said enthusiastically.

“We start Saturday. We have to be at the stables where we will have our lessons fairly early since we are having a small party that evening.”

“A party? What kind of party?” John looked almost scared. It was almost like he was afraid it would be some kind of orgy.

Brian laughed softly. “Don’t worry; it’s just a going away party for the munchers. They are moving to Canada with the kids and we all want to say a proper goodbye before they go.”

“What are munchers?” Peter was looking a little scared too.

Justin laughed out loud. “That’s what you get for calling them that.” He looked at the boys. “Munchers are your uncle’s word for lesbians. They are the mothers of our son Gus and his little sister JR.”

“Oh, ok. Who will be at this party? Will there be anybody our age?”

“The whole of our crazy little family will be here, and that includes my mother and sister. Molly is 14 so that’s about your age.”

The boys seamed to relax a little after that. When lunch was over Brian asked if they wanted to play a game or maybe watch a movie. They all went to the media room and the rest of the day went with getting to know each other better and having some fun in the process. It was obvious that John was not happy being there and he still snarled and tried to bait his uncle and Justin into an argument but they just ignored the bad moods and kept being nice to him. When it was time for bed, he had all but given up.

Next morning Brian took Peter to Margaret Bell Miller Middle School and went with him to the office. When they got there a boy Peter’s age was waiting for them. Ms. Cross, the school secretary introduced them.

“Peter, this is Robert, he will be your buddy until you are settled in. He will show you around today and introduce you to the rest of your class. Now why don’t you two boys run along so you won’t be late for your first period?”

Peter said goodbye to his uncle and went with Bobby.

“Mr. Kinney, here is a copy of Peter’s class schedule and a list of telephone numbers in case you need to get in touch with us. We already have the list of emergency numbers for you. Will you or your wife pick Peter up today?”

“First, my name is Taylor-Kinney and I don’t have a wife, I have a husband and yes, he will pick Peter up today.” Brian smirked at the flustered woman.

“I’m sorry, I had no idea. What is your partner’s name, I just want to put it on the list of people who can pick up Peter.”

“That’s quite alright. His name is Justin Taylor-Kinney and you should probably put Mr. Harry Jacobson on that list. He is our groundskeeper and will on occasion do the pick up.”

“All done. I will see to it that these information be put in the file. Have a nice day Mr. Taylor-Kinney.”

“Thank you Ms. Cross, you too.”

At Waynesburg Central High School, a much similar conversation took place with Mrs. Furrows, the secretary there. When John and his buddy Eric took of for there first class, Justin told Mrs. Furrows the names of the people with permission to pick up John.

After he left, he drove to Kinnetik to take a look at the building next door that would become Tay-Kin Art when it had been renovated. He had lunch at the diner with Brian and left to pick up both boys from school.

“How was your day?” He asked Peter after they were both safely buckled in.

“It was ok, I like my buddy Bobby. He asked if I could come over to his house one day, and maybe he could come to my house. Is that ok?”

“Of course that’s ok. I’m glad you have already made a friend.” Justin smiled brightly at the boy and he smiled back.

When they picked up John, he was talking to a boy and a girl.

Justin got out of the car and went to tell John it was time to go home.

“Hey buddy. You ready to go home?”

“Sure. Justin this is Eric and Erica. They are twins.”

“Cool.” Justin smiled at the twins.

“Our parents had run out of ideas for names when we came along. We have 2 older brothers and an older sister.” Erica laughed and the others joined her.

“Well you are welcome to visit John at our house sometime if you want to, but right now it’s time to go home.”

“See you guys.” John said and went to the car.

During dinner, Brian and Justin heard about the first day at school and their new friends. Both men were happy to note that John was a little less hostile today and even divulged information of his own accord.


	3. A sleepover planned

On Tuesday morning during breakfast, Justin had a proposition for the boys.

“How would you like to invite your new friends to the party on Saturday? You could have a sleepover. Bobby could sleep in your room Peter and Eric Can stay in yours John. Erica can borrow a guestroom and I can ask my mother if Molly can stay too, she can have the other guestroom. How does that sound?”

Both boys looked at Justin with huge eyes.

“We can have friends visit and have a sleepover, really?” Peter sounded suspicious.

“Sure, why not?”

“We’ve never had a sleepover before, mom wouldn’t let us. She said that two boys shouldn’t sleep in the same room, they would just turn gay like Uncle Brian.” Peter blushed profusely.

Brian looked dumbfounded and then he laughed out loud.

“I’m sorry guys. I never had a sleepover before I was fourteen, I new I was gay before that. If you are gay it is either determined in the womb or before the age of five. The experts can’t decide which it is.”

“I have only had sleepovers with my best friend Daphne until I was seventeen.”

“Who did you have a sleepover with when you were seventeen?” Peter asked innocently.

“Brian.”

“Oh.”

“So what do you say? Ask your friends today. Give them our phone number and have their parents call if they have any questions, ok?”

“Ok, thanks Uncle Justin.” The boys said at the same time and ran to their rooms to get their bag packs.

Brian and Justin just looked at each other until Justin broke out in a true sunshine smile.

“They called me uncle.”

“They sure did, Sunshine. How about that?”

They drove the boys to school, Justin went home to paint, and Brian went to Kinnetik.

When the boys got off school Justin picked up Peter first and then John.

“What did your friends say? Would they like to come to the party on Saturday?”

“Bobby would like to, he just has to ask his parents first. He said they would call, they always do if he is going to the house of someone new.”

“I can understand that, that’s why I told you to give him our number. How about Eric and Erica?”

“They said yes too provided their parents give their ok, they will probably call too.”

“Let’s go home and you can do your homework while we wait for the calls ok?”

“Ok.”

When they got home, they went to the kitchen to get some snacks and for the boys to do their homework.

“Do you think you can help me Uncle Justin? I don’t really understand this problem.”

“Sure, you are lucky that I’m so young. It’s not so long ago that I went to school and I can still remember most of it.” Justin said with a little laugh. Both boys looked at him with their mouth hanging open and then they started laughing too.

“Uncle Justin, can I ask you something?” John asked quietly.

“Of course John, what is it?”

“If you don’t want to tell us it’s ok, but what did you score on your SAT’s?”

Justin chuckled. “It’s quite all right. I got 1500.”

John looked impressed but Peter didn’t understand what it meant exactly.

“What is SAT’s? I’ve heard about it before but I’m not sure what it is.”

“It’s a test all high school students take for their college admissions.”

“Ok, is 1500 a lot?”

“Yeah it’s great. The highest score is 1600.” John was getting exited. “If you get 1500 you can get in to practically any college you want. Where did you go to college Uncle Justin?”

“I went to PIFA, but I never graduated. It’s a really long story and I’ll tell you some day, but right now its homework time.”

The boys went back to their books and Justin helped Peter with his problem.

When the homework was done, the boys were allowed to go in the media room and have some fun. Just before Brian got home, the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hello, I’m looking for Mr. Taylor-Kinney.”

“This is Justin Taylor-Kinney.

“My name is Daniel Withers I’m Bobby’s father.”

“Oh, hello Mr. Withers, how may I help you?”

“Bobby tells me that Peter invited him to a party and sleepover on Saturday, is that right?”

“Yes that’s correct. We have some friends who are moving to Canada and it’s a goodbye party for them.”

“Will there be other children present or is it an adult party?”

“There will be my sister Molly who are fourteen and our friends to children who are one and four. There will only be a little wine with dinner and other than that no alcohol. I have to say though that most of the guests will be gay. If that is a problem you better tell me now.”

“No that’s no problem. My wife has a sister who is a lesbian and she and her wife are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Pardon my asking, but how old are you? You sound awfully young.”

Justin chuckled lightly “I’m 22. Peter and John are my partner’s nephews.”

“Are your partner as young as you? And how about your guests?”

“No, my partner is 33 and the guests range from 14 to 55. My mother will even be there.” Justin laughed at that. “It really is a family gathering to say goodbye to two of the members of said family. Melanie and Lindsay are the mothers of my partner’s son Gus.”

“Well it sounds like fun, what time would you like us to bring over Bobby?”

“How about four a clock? That way the can meet us before all of the family decent.”

“That sounds fine. I hope you don’t mind that both my wife and I drive him there. We would like to meet you too.”

“That’s fine. We would like to meet you too.”

“See you Saturday then.”

“See you then.” Justin puts the phone down just as Brian walks through the door.

“Who was that Sunshine?”

“Bobby’s dad, both he and his wife will be here to meet us and drop Bobby of at four on Saturday”

“Ok, did you tell him that most of the guests will be gay?”

“I did, as it turns out Mrs. Withers has a gay sister.”

Just then, the phone rings again.

“I’ll get it.” Brian said.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Mr. Taylor-Kinney?”

“Yes I’m Brian Taylor-Kinney.”

“I’m Edward Johnson; I’m Eric and Erica’s father. They tell me that you have invited them to a party on Saturday.”

“That’s right Mr. Johnson. My partner and I are hosting a goodbye party for my son, his sister, and their two mothers. They are moving to Canada and all of the family would like the chance to say goodbye.”

“Who will be at this party?”

“Well it will be all of our chosen family and some of my partner’s real family, consistent of seven gay men, two gay women, two straight women, two straight men, and six children. Well eight children if Eric and Erica will be here.”

“What kind of party will it be?”

“It will be a quite party starting with dinner and then just enjoying each others company before the family will be split. It will be a, I almost said quiet affair but knowing our surrogate mother that’s impossible, but it will definitely not be a wild orgy.”

“That sounds like fun, more for you than for the kids.”

“That’s exactly why we told the boys that they could invite some friends, we only got custody of the boys on Saturday, and they don’t really know our family.”

“I see. Are you foster parents to the boys?”

“Yes we are, but I am also their maternal uncle. My sister was alone and a little overwhelmed raising two teen-age boys.”

“I don’t see a problem with Eric and Erica joining your party but we would like to meet the two of you and we would like to know where Erica will be sleeping.”

“Of course, if you could bring the kids at four a clock on Saturday, we could sit and talk for a while before the guests get here, would that be all right? You can also see the guest room Erica will be staying in.”

“That would be fine Mr. Taylor-Kinney, see you Saturday.”

“See you then.” Brian put the phone down and turned to Justin.

“Did Mr. Withers grill you as much?”

“Yes he did. I guess we have some parents to wow on Saturday.”

“I guess we do.”


	4. Meeting the parents

Saturday morning they all got up at eight to go to the stables for their riding lessons. The instructor got Brian and the boys some very gentle horses while Justin got one with a little more spunk since he had been riding when he were younger.

They were let to the riding ground and told how to mound the horses. When all four of them were seated, the instructor helped get the stirrups the right length and told them how to hold the reins. When the technicalities of riding were dealt with, they started riding around the ground at a walking pace. When they were all a little more, confident the instructor told them to kick the side of the horses to get them to trot. The boys and Brian were sitting like sacks of potatoes on the horses but Justin lifted himself up and down and the instructor told Brian, Peter, and John to look what Justin did and try to emulate him. When they got the hang of it, it was time to stop for the day. They were reminded to stretch if they would like to walk on Monday.

When they got home, they all went to take a shower and get some clean clothes on. Then they all met in the kitchen where Mrs. Jacobson had lunch ready for them.

“Well boys, how did you like riding? Is it something you would like to do again?”

“Yes Uncle Brian, it was fun. I didn’t think it would be that hard though. I mean the horses do all the work, or that’s what I thought, it was a lot harder than it looks.” Peter was bubbling over with enthusiasm.

“Yeah it was fun; I would like to do it again.” John gave a small smile.

“That settles it. Let’s make it a weekly thing until we get the hang of it and can buy some horses of our own.”

At tree o’clock they went to change into their chosen outfits for the party and went into the living room to wait for Bobby, Eric, Erica and their parents.

Justin got up to answer the door when the doorbell rang.

“Hi Bobby.” He greeted the boy and turned to the man and woman standing behind them giving them his full sunshine smile. “I’m Justin Taylor-Kinney. You must be Mr. and Mrs. Withers, come on in.”

“Thank you Mr. Taylor-Kinney.”

“Please call me Justin, it can get a little to confusing otherwise since we are two Mr. Taylor-Kinney’s. He laughed a little as he showed them into the living room. “Bri, this is Mr. and Mrs. Withers and Bobby. This is my partner Brian Taylor-Kinney.”

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Withers please call me Brian.”

“Ok Brian and Justin it is, if you will call us Dan and Sam.”

“Can I get you something to drink? We have wine, beer, soda’s and water?”

“I wouldn’t mind a glass of white wine if you have it.” Sam said.

“Coming right up, how about you Dan?”

“A beer sounds nice.”

“Boys, soda?”

“Yes thank you Uncle Brian.” Peter said after getting confirmation from Bobby.

Brian went to the drinks cart and got everybody their drinks. He got Justin a beer without having to ask.

“If you don’t mind my asking...” Dan started just as the doorbell rang again. Justin got up to answer while Brian distributed the drinks.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, Eric, Erica, come on in, I’m Justin Taylor-Kinney but you can just call me Justin.”

“I’m Ed and this is my wife Helen.”

“This way, we’re all in the living room.

When they came into the living room, there were another round of introductions and Ed and Helen got drinks.

“John and Peter, why don’t you show your Bobby, Eric and Erica where to put their overnight bags and then go watch a movie until we dinner?” Brian asked and all five kids ran of.

“Dan, you were just about to ask us something when the doorbell rang. What did you want to know?” Justin always the polite WASP asked.

“Oh yeah, I hope you wont take this the wrong way but how long have you two known each other.”

Brian and Justin looked at each other and smiled slightly.

“We have known each other four and a half years. And yes that would have made Justin seventeen when we met.” Brian said a little defensively.

“My wife and I met in high school, she was a freshmen and I was a senior. Not exactly her parents’ idea of a suitable boyfriend for their daughter, in fact I don’t think they wanted her to have one in the first place.” All of them laughed at that.

“My parents weren’t exactly thrilled either but that could have something to with me being gay. The age difference between Brian and me didn’t help though.”

“How big of a difference is there? It’s hard to tell either of your ages I can figure out that you are twenty one or two Justin but how about you Brian?” Helen asked.

“Justin is twenty two and I’m thirty three almost four. I was twenty-nine when we met. He was the first twink I had ever been interested in, in my life which should have told me to run in the opposite direction but luckily I didn’t.”

“Nice save Brian.” Justin smirked.

“I don’t follow? What’s a twink?” Sam asked a little confused.

“A twink is a young, naïve, inexperienced kid in the gay community. It’s a little derogatory and Justin hates when I call him that which is the reason I do.” Brian laughed and the others joined him.

“You are so bad Brian. I have not been a twink since about five hours after I met you.”

“I know, I’m a great teacher.” Justin swatted Brian on the arm and Sam and Helen blushed a little at the innuendo.

“You are embarrassing our guest, now behave. I apologize, I have tried to house train him since the start, but I’m afraid he’s too old to learn new tricks.” Justin had a twinkle in his eyes as he said that.

“Oh I’ll get you for the old crack Sunshine.” Brian growled and the guests just looked from one to the other and then burst out laughing.

“I guess we found out what you do when he call’s you a twink.” Ed said still laughing.

“Got to give as good as I get with this one. I wouldn’t have lasted five minutes if I didn’t.” Justin winked.

“When did you get married? I gather you are, with the matching last names?” Sam asked.

“A week ago.” Justin was beaming.

“A week ago, really? Congratulations.”

“Thank you. I was quite a day we got custody of John and Peter the same day.” Brian volunteered.

“Oh my god, that’s a bit of a mouthful all in the same day.” Helen said shocked.

“Yes that was a rather intense day.” Brian said with a smirk. “But I wouldn’t have had it any other way; it was a perfect day as well.”

Justin gave him a full wattage sunshine smile and gave him a little kiss on the cheek.

“How would you all like to stay for the party? You could meet our family such as it is. It would be nice to have some friends here. All our friends live in Pittsburgh and now Canada.” Justin asked hopefully.

Both couples looked at each other and both agreed to stay.

“That’s great. I’ll just go tell Mrs. Jacobson to set the table for four more.” Justin left the room to go to the kitchen.

When he came back he found the others talking about children.

“I actually have a son. He is four and lives with his mothers. They are the ones moving to Canada.” Brian had a sad look in his eyes. Justin went to him and put his hand on the back of his neck for support.

“I don’t mean to pry, but how did he come about? I mean if you are gay and his mother is a lesbian?” Sam blushed a little.

“Via artificial insemination, my friend since college and her girlfriend wanted a child and asked me to be the donor. Gus was born the night Justin and I met. You can say that night turned my life upside down.”

Justin smiled at him again.

“How would you like a tour of the house? You can see where your kids will be sleeping.” Justin asked.

All four parents agreed.

“Well this is the living room and up these stairs is the library.” Justin let them to a spiraling staircase in the corner of the room and the all went up to the library.

From the library, they went to the upstairs hallway and in to John’s room.

“Oh my, there is a lot of black in here.” Helen exclaimed.

“I know, when we first decided to take in the boys I called their mother to ask what they liked. She told me that John liked black and music I had her list his favorite bands. I told our decorators and they came up with this. I refused to have the walls painted black, so this was the closest I could get. We have decided that we can always re-decorate if his tastes changes.” Justin smirked.

They moved on to Peter’s room.

“Claire, the boy’s mother told me that Peter likes books and this is what the decorators came up with, he absolutely loves it. Thank god, it could have gotten either way.”

“It’s amazing; it looks just like a library in an old English manor.”

“That’s what we went for.” Justin smiled. “Over here is the master suite.” Justin opened the door and they all looked inside but didn’t enter.

They continued to the two guest rooms.

“This is where Erica will be sleeping tonight.” Brian told when the got to the one closest to the master bedroom.

“Over here is JR’s room.”

“Who’s JR?” Ed asked

“She is Gus’ sister. Brian is Gus’ father and Lindsay is his mother. Melanie, Lindsay’s wife, is JR’s mother and Michael, my old friend from high school is her father. It is a little confusing I know, but since both of them live with their mothers they are brother and sister.” Brian explained.

“That makes sense.”

They all went in the room and both sets of parents gasped at the mural.

“Wow, that’s beautiful, who painted that?” Ed asked in awe.

“Justin did.” Brian answered with pride in his voice.

They all stared at Justin with their mouths hanging open.

“You are really talented, these are fantastic.” Ed told him.

“Thank you, there is one more in Gus’ room would you like to see it?”

All of them nodded and they went to Gus’ room to look at his mural.

“If you don’t mind my asking, where do you buy your art supplies?”

“I usually buy them at ‘Artist’s Choice’ in Pittsburgh, why?”

“We have one of those in Waynesburg, I own the chain.”

“Cool, then I don’t have to go all the way to the Pitts to buy supplies. Should we continue with the tour?

“Sure, lead the way.”

They went down the stairs and into the media room. The five kids sat there watching Racing Stripes. They barely looked up when the adults entered but just went back to the movie. Brian led everybody out again and into the office next door.

“That was some media room, I bet John and Peter spend a lot of time in there.” Dan said.

“Actually they don’t, we have this rule that says that all homework has to be done before anything else. By the time they are done with that it is usually dinner time.” Justin said. “Well this is our home office; we are lucky enough that Brian can work from home once in a while.”

“What do you do Brian?” Sam asked looking at him.

“I have an advertising company in Pittsburgh.”

“When did you get to be so modest? He is the president and CEO of Kinnetik Inc. the best and most sought after agency on the east coast.” Justin said with a lot of pride in his voice.

“And Justin is my private cheering session.” Brian said with his tongue in his cheek.

All of them laughed and Justin blushed.

“The last room on this side is Justin’s studio, I know an artist’s studio is private so Justin can we come in and see it?” Brian looked at his husband seriously.

“Thank you for asking Brian but I have nothing in there that isn’t covered if I don’t want to show it yet.” Justin opened the door and showed them all in.

“Wow, this is a wonderful room. I can imagine that any artist would envy you this work space.” Ed said honestly.

“Would you like to see some of my finished pieces?”

“I would love too.”

“Yes please.”

“Really?”

Ed, Sam, and Dan had said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed a little.

“Well then come over here.” Justin walked to a part of the studio where he had some canvases stacked against the wall. He turned them over one at a time and all the others gaped at them. Brian hadn’t even seen some of the pieces yet and he had tears in his eyes at some of them, they were filled with so much love and passion.

“My god Sunshine, they’re exquisite, they are the best work you have ever done.” Brian gave the blond man of his dreams a hug and a quick kiss.

“Thank you Bri.” Justin looked a little embarrassed but pleased at the same time.

“Brian’s right, they are exceptional. You are very talented Justin.” Helen said.

“Thanks. It’s always nice to know that other people like your work.”

When they were back in the hall, Justin pointed at the door opposite his studio.

“That over there is a bathroom and the rest of the rooms are the kitchen, mud room, and dining room. I don’t really think that you are all that interested in our mudroom. The kitchen and dining room you will see later at dinner.”

When they were done with the pictures, they went back to the living room.

“The rest of our guests should be here soon, would any of you like a fresh-up of your drinks?” Brian asked the others.

When everybody had a fresh drink, they all sat and talked.

“You know what we do for a living and we know what you do Ed, how about the rest of you?” Brian asked.

“I’m a partner in a law firm here in Waynesburg. Our main focus is corporate law.” Helen said.

“How about you Dan?” Justin looked at him.

“I’m a contractor; I work for a firm in Pittsburgh. We just got a contract to remodel an old factory into an art gallery. I haven’t actually seen the building yet, but it’s supposed to be next to an old bathhouse that has been converted into offices of some company.”

Justin and Brian just stared at him with their mouths hanging open until they looked at each other and started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Dan looked a little miffed.

“The bathhouse holds the offices of Kinnetik, my ad agency and the gallery is going to be Justin’s new venture when we get that far. We just bought that building and hired contractors on Monday.” Brian smiled at Dan.

“Oh my god, I’m going to be working for you?”

“Looks like it. I hope that’s not a problem?” Justin looked worried.

“No of course not, I think it will be great. I’ve seen the plans for what it will look like; It’s going to be beautiful.”

“Thank you, I hope so, I put a lot of thought into it with the architect.” Justin told him.

“You came up with the plans? I’m impressed.”

“Thank you.” Not wanting to much praise Justin moved to look at Sam.

“Sam, what do you do?”

“I have been a stay at home mom for the last twelve years. I just started on my degree as a realtor. I know it’s cliché but I really like the courses.”

“When my parents got divorced my mother got her realtor license too. She really loves her job; she has a lot of customer on Liberty Avenue, since they know she’s not a homophobe.” Justin snickered a little at that.

“That’s so great is she coming here tonight? I would love to talk to her.”

“Yes she and my sister will be here.” Justin smiled.

Just then, the doorbell rang signaling the arrival of the first guests.


	5. The party

When Justin opened the door, he found Emmett, Ted, and Blake on the other side.

“Hi guys come on in. Let me take your coats.”

He put their coats away and let them to the living room.

“Ted, Emmett, and Blake this is Sam and Dan Withers and Ed and Helen Johnson. They are the parents of some new friends John and Peter have made at their new schools. And this is Our friends Ted, Blake, and Emmett."

“Well hello to you. It’s always nice to meet new people. It can get so boring if you only always see the same people.” Emmett said.

“Why thank you Honeycutt, it’s nice to know you think we’re boring.” Brian said with a smirk.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it. And don’t call me Honeycutt.” Justin and Ted laughed.

“Sorry, it’s just an old argument with these two.” Justin explained.

When the bell rang, again Brian went to open.

“Hi all hang your coats over there and follow me to the living room. Deb, Carl, Ben, Michael, and Hunter, this is Dan, Sam, Ed, and Helen. They are parents of some of the boy’s new friends. This is my surrogate mother and her fiancé, her son Michael my high school friend and his husband Ben and their adopted son Hunter.” Brian did the introductions fast since he knew that they wouldn’t be able to remember the names right away anyway and more were to come soon.

“Hunter would you like to join the kids in the media room? They are watching a movie.”

“Sure where is it?”

“I’ll take you.” Justin offered and showed him the way.

“Guys this is Hunter. Hunter you have already met John and Peter and this is Bobby, Eric and Erica.”

Justin left the kids to get to know each other. Just as he left, the doorbell rang again.

This time it was his mother, Tucker, Molly, the munchers and the kids.

“Hi everybody, did you get her together?”

“No we just arrived at the same time.” Jennifer told him as she gave him a hug.

He took them to the living room and made the introductions. Brian took the kids and Molly to the media room and told them to watch out for Gus and JR.

“Dinner will be ready soon and we’ll come get you then, alright?”

“Sure Uncle Brian.” John said and went back to talking to Hunter, Eric, and Erica.

When Brian came back to the living room, everybody had a drink and sat around talking. He got his beer and clinked it with another bottle to get everybody’s attention.

“I would like to propose a toast. To Lindsay and Melanie, may they find what they are looking for in Canada, and to friends old and new.” Everybody lifted their glasses or bottles to join in the toast.

Mrs. Jacobson came to tell them that dinner was ready and Justin led them all to the dining room.

Brian got the kids and got the little ones seated before taking his own place at one end of the table with Justin at the other end.

Dinner was a loud affair with everybody talking with everybody else. There was the usual banter between the different family members and the new addition looked amused, the only one who looked like he didn’t enjoy himself was Michael.

“What’s the matter Michael? Why are you so quite?” Ben asked his husband concerned.

“It’s all a farce.” Michael spat.

“What is?” Ben looked taken aback.

“This! Brian hates dinner parties, look at what happened at our house with Eli and Monty. Justin is making him do all sorts of things he would never do on his own.” Michael said vehemently.

Ben just looked at him incredulously. “No one has ever made Brian do anything he doesn’t want to do. He married Justin because he loves him and he is having this party to say goodbye to the mothers of his son.”

“But what about those strangers, what are they doing here, they don’t belong.” Michael whined.

“You know what Michael? I’m tired of you and you’re whining about Brian. You have to stop wanting to keep him fourteen forever, he is a grown man with a husband and children. Deal with it.” With that, Ben turned to talk to Helen who was sitting to his other side.

Michael just stared at him and then crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. He remained silent for the rest of dinner.

When dinner was over Gus and JR had both fallen a sleep in their mother’s arms.

“Why don’t you put them to bed in their rooms until you are leaving?” Justin asked the two mothers.

“Their rooms? They have their own rooms here?” Mel asked with chock written all over her face.

“Sure they do, let me show you.” Justin smiled brightly and let them up the stairs and into Gus’ room.

“Oh my god, Justin this is amazing, did you do the mural?” Lindsay asked.

“Yeah I did. It was Brian’s idea though. He told me how much Gus likes trains and asked if I could do something like this.”

“It’s beautiful. I’m sure he will love it when he sees it.”

“The bathroom is through here and on the other side is JR’s room.”

They all went to the bathroom and Lindsay took of Gus’ clothes, washed his face, and brushed his teeth without him waking up.

“There are pajamas in the bottom drawer of the dresser.” Justin said and Lindsay just stared at him.

“Justin this is wonderful.” Came Mel’s voice from JR’s room.

"Thank you Mel. There are pajamas for her in her bottom drawer as well. I hope we got their sizes right. I’ll go back down, join us in the living room when you are done.”

With that, he left them to put the children to bed and went back to his guests.

“Were the munchers impressed with the rooms?” Brian asked with a smirk.

“Yes they were, I don’t know what impressed them the most, the rooms themselves or the fact that they were there.” Justin winked and grinned.

The seven kids had all gone back to the media room to play some games and get away from the prying eyes of parental figures.

All their guests seemed to be enjoying themselves. Sam and Jennifer sat in a couple of chairs and talked about, what Justin could only assume were the ins and outs of the world of realtors.

Ted and Blake was talking to Ed.

Ben, Carl, and Tucker was deep in conversation with Helen and Emmett and Deb had cornered poor Dan. He looked a little out of his element but not really uncomfortable. Justin and Brian decided to go and rescue him.

“Deb, are you scarring our guests?” Brian smirked.

“I’m sure Dan doesn’t scare that easily Kiddo. We were talking about the renovations on the new gallery. That’s some coincidence that it’s Dan’s firm who are doing them.”

“Yeah it really is. They were the ones with the best reputation and they gave the best bid. Not the cheapest but the one that seamed the most likely to be realistic. I never go with the lowest bidder, there is usually a lot of unforeseen expenses before the job is done.”

“That’s actually true. I have heard of incidents where the price had doubled before the renovation was done.” Dan said.

“Doubled?” Emmett gasped, “That’s some increase. I will have to remember that if I’m ever in the marked for a construction company.”

“You do that Emmy Lou, its good advice.” Brian smiled at Emmett who just stuck his tongue out at him. Justin laughed and put his arm around Brian’s waist.

Brian saw that Michael sat in a corner by him self with his arms crossed over his chest and a sour expression on his face. He was just about to go over to him when Ben stopped him.

“Don’t Brian; he needs to see that you can function without him. If you go over to him now you will enforce his delusion that he is more important to you than Justin is.”

Brian looked at him dumbfounded. “Are you fucking serious? He believes that he is more important to me than Justin. And how is my going over there enforcing that belief?”

“He is convinced that Justin has made you have this dinner party since you don’t like dinner parties.”

“Justin hasn’t made me do shit.”

“I know, but Michael still sees the arrogant prick with all the rules and the one fuck only policy. He liked that version of you he felt you needed him then. He couldn’t have you the way he wanted, but as long as you needed him to drive you home and put you to bed there was a slimmer of hope that maybe one day you would need him for something more.”

Brian was gaping at him. “Are you fucking shitting me? He wants me to stay lonely and unhappy just so that his little fantasy can live on? That’s just sick.” Brian was seething.

“That’s why you can’t go and make him feel better, it feeds his fantasy. You have to let him go otherwise he will live in that fantasy forever. I know it’s tough but I’m afraid it’s the only way. I have to tell you I’m getting pretty fed up with it and him.” Brian looked worried.” Don’t get me wrong I love Michael but this obsession he has with running your life is starting to piss me of.”

“Wow, I’m amazed you have lasted this long without blowing up at him, if it really is as bad as you say it is. You must have the patients of a saint.”

“I’m no saint. I just keep hoping he will grow up and forget about you.” Ben winked at Brian.

“He loves you Ben, I know he does.”

“I know that Brian. But I can’t live with someone who will not let his supposed best friend be happy.”

“I’m really sorry Ben, I know sorry is bullshit but not this time. I should have done something about this long ago; I just didn’t realize it was this bad.”

“It’s not your fault Brian.” Ben clapped him on the shoulder and went over to Ted, Blake, and Ed.

“What was that all about?” Justin came up besides Brian and put his arm around him.

“I wanted to go and talk to Mikey but Ben stopped me. Apparently, Michael is under the impression that you made me throw this party. Apparently I hate dinner parties.”

“It’s just because he remember the fiasco that was his dinner party with Eli and Monty.” Justin smirked.

“Oh god, I had blissfully forgotten about that. Those two were the absolute most boring people I have ever met.”

“I know. And the two of us were in a weird place which didn’t make things better.” Brian gave him a kiss on the temple and gave him a little smile.

The rest of the party went without a hitch until everybody was about to leave. Michael came up to Brian and whined.

“Brian you haven’t spoken with me all night. You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

Everybody present heard him and stopped what they were doing.

“No Michael, I’m Justin’s best friend and the reason I haven’t talked to you all night is that you have been sitting in a corner sulking.”

“I have been waiting for you to be alone all night, I don’t want to talk to some strangers. I came here to see you.”

“Michael you are being rude. Sam, Dan, Ed, and Helen are guests in my home. Justin and I have invited them to be here and other than that, this is a party to say goodbye to the girls and our children before they move out of the country. I kind of thought that you would want to spend some them before they left.”

“But I wanted to talk to you.”

“Then you should have joined me in one of the many conversations I have had during the evening.”

“I wanted to talk to you alone.”

“Michael, this is a party and at a party you mingle and talk in small groups.” Brian was getting impatient with him.

Justin walked over to them. “Brian, our guests is about to leave are you coming to say goodbye?”

“Sure Sunshine.” With that, they left to say goodbye to Dan, Sam, Ed, and Helen.

"We’ll see you tomorrow when you come pick up the kids.” Brian said to all of them.

“Thank you so much for inviting us. We have really enjoyed ourselves.” Dan said and shook hands with both Justin and Brian.

“The pleasure was all ours. We should do this again sometime maybe just the six of us with the kids?” Brian said.

“That sounds like a plan. We can talk more tomorrow.” Helen and Ed shook hands and went to their car.

Sam said her goodbyes, she, and Dan left too.

When they came back inside Michael came up to Justin.

“How dare you order Brian around like that? He was talking to me when you just came over and took him away. Are you jealous of my relationship with Brian?” He was smirking and looked at Justin with a superior look on his face.

“What the fuck are you talking about Michael? Some of our guests were leaving, we had to say goodbye to them.” Justin was livid. “And for the record I’m not and have never been jealous of your relationship with Brian. I think it’s time that you go home now.”

“Brian are you just going to let him throw my out of your house?” Michael was whining again.

“This is Justin’s home Michael and if he hadn’t asked you to leave, I would have.” Brian was stone faced and talked in a very low and calm voice, a sure sign that he was pissed.

Michael looked crestfallen and started crying. “But I’m your best….”

“Shut the fuck up Michael and get the hell out of my house. From now on I will only see you at family dinner at Deb’s and I wouldn’t count on ever being invited back here again.” Brain’s voice boomed.

Ben, Deb, Carl, and Hunter almost dragged Michael out of the house and into the car.

John, Peter, Bobby, Eric, Erica, and Molly had luckily gone to bed earlier and didn’t witness any of the drama.

The girls had gotten the children out of bed and into their coats. They put them in the car and came to say goodbye.

“I’m sorry the evening ended like this but we had a great time, thanks you guys for doing this for us.” Mel said and gave them both a hug; Justin’s a lot longer and harder than Brian’s but still.

“Your welcome, we will be there to say goodbye when you are leaving.” Justin said and hugged Lindsay.

The rest of the guests left as well and Jennifer said she’d be by the next day to pick up Molly.

“Well Sunshine that went well.” The sarcasm in Brian’s voice was evident.

“It did actually, right up until Michael decided to be an ass.” Justin smiled.

“Let’s go to bed, we have six kids to entertain tomorrow morning. Between now and then I would like to fuck you at least three times.” Justin laughed and followed his husband up the stairs and to bed.


	6. Claire visits

A few days after the party, they were all sitting down at the dinner table.

“Would you like to see your mother?” Brian asked the boys.

They both looked at him with worry in their eyes.

“Will we have to go to her house?” John asked.

“No we will have her come here. I have already told her that she can have supervised visitations. She can only se you here with one of us present.”

“Oh, ok when would we do it?”

“How about the week-end? Maybe Saturday after our riding lessons we can inviter her to lunch.”

“That sounds good. We can show her our rooms and everything.” Peter was getting enthusiastic.

“That’s settled the, I’ll call her later and inviter her.”

When dinner was over, they all went to the living room. Justin and the boys started a game of Trivial Pursuit while Brian called Claire.

“Hello Claire its Brian.”

“They’re doing fine.”

“I’ll tell them.”

“That’s why I’m calling. We wanted to know if you would like to come to lunch on Saturday.”

“How about one o’clock?”

“That’s fine, see you then.”

“She’ll be here on Saturday at one. She wanted me to tell you that she misses you.” Brian went to sit down and join the game.

When Saturday came around they went to their riding lesson but all of them were nervous about the visit later. The instructor could sense that they weren’t all ‘there’ and dismissed them before the hour was up, telling them that they could have the diffident time next Saturday.

When they got home all of them went to take a shower and change their clothes. They met in the kitchen and helped each other set the table in silence. Mrs. Jacobson could tell they were nervous and kept up an endless chatter for which they were all grateful.

When the doorbell finely rang, they all went to answer together.

“Hello Claire, come in.” Brian said.

“Thank you Brian. Hello boys aren’t you going to give me a hug?”

John and Peter looked at Brian and Justin who gave them a slight nod. They went to their mother, gave her a brief hug, and then moved back to the two men.

“Would you like to see the house?” Justin asked. “Lunch will be another half hour.

“Ok.”

They took the same tour Dan, Sam, Ed and Helen had gotten a week earlier. When they came to John’s room Claire looked shocked.

“You have your own room? I thought that you would have to share.”

“We have seven bedrooms. There is no need for anybody to share.” Brian said.

“Would you like to see my room too, mom?” Peter asked with a very little voice.

“Of course I would Peter.”

Peter opened the door to the bathroom and Claire gaped again.

“You even have your own bathroom?”

“We share that me and John.”

He opened the door to his room and proudly showed his mother.

“This is wonderful Peter, just like you always wanted.”

Peter was beaming and nodded his head.

“How about you John, is your room everything you wanted?”

“It was, but I have changed my mind and Uncle Justin has promised me that we can redecorate when I find out what I want instead.” He smiled a shy smile at Justin who just ruffled his hair in response.

“Uncle Justin? Why do you call him that?” Claire almost spat.

“Because he is married to Uncle Brian and he is our uncle too.” Peter said with conviction.

Brian and Justin smiled proudly at the boy but Claire didn’t look to happy about that little piece of information.

When they came to Gus and JR’s rooms Claire looked confused but John and Peter told her who the rooms belonged to and the look change into surprise.

“I didn’t know you had a son Brian.”

“No you didn’t.” Was all he said.

When they came back, downstairs Mrs. Jacobson stuck her head out of the kitchen to tell them that lunch was ready.

During lunch, the boys told their mother all about school, their new friends, and riding lessons.

“Riding lessons isn’t that dangerous?”

“No, we all wear helmets and a protective vest to protect our backs and necks should we fall off. None of us has yet though.” Justin smiled at the boys.

“It’s really fun mom, and Uncle Brian and Uncle Justin says we can bye some horses when we are good enough.”

“Bye horses where would you put them?” She asked.

“In the stables.” Peter said in a duh tone of voice.

“You have stables?” She looked somewhat shell choked.

“We do. We also have a tennis court and a swimming-pool.” Brian stated calmly.

“How big is your garden?”

“Well our garden is not all the land we have. We have about 22 acres of land.” Brian told her and her mouth dropped.

“Oh my god this is an estate.”

“It is.”

After that, Claire was a little more subdued. When lunch was over the boys wanted to show Claire Justin’s studio and the media room. Claire was impressed with Justin work but she didn’t quite understand it. She did however understand the media room.

“How much time do you boys spend in here?”

“An hour a day tops. The Uncle’s won’t let us go in here before we are finished with our homework and by then its dinnertime. When dinner is over, we usually come in here. Sometimes to watch TV or play a videogame but most of the time to play a board game all four of us.” Peter told her.

“Board games? You have never liked to play board games before.” She looked hurt at that.

“You have never had time to play with us mom. Justin and Brian spend an hour with us every night before we have to go to bed playing and talking.” John was obviously upset but didn’t want the adults to see it.

“It’s just…I’m always so tired in the evenings. I don’t have the energy.” Claire was almost crying.

“How about we play a game now?” Justin suggested and Brian looked at him with so much pride and love that even Claire could see it.

“Please mom, could we?”

Claire looked at her sons who looked at her pleadingly.  
“Sure, why not?”

All five of them settled down to a game of Monopoly. The boys started to relax a little more around their mother and she looked happy about that.

When the game was done, Peter was the big winner. They moved to the living room to have a cup of coffee and some of Mrs. Jacobson’s homemade chocolate cake.

“Do you boys think you will be ready to move back home soon?” Claire looked at her sons with a hopeful expression on her face.

Brian and Justin just stared at her with disbelieve written all over their faces.

“What are you talking about Claire? Justin and I have custody of the boys and this is their home now. Like I told Mother when she asked me to take them in, you can have visitation but that’s all.”

The boys looked a little frightened.

“Brian you are scarring them, they think they can never come home again.” Claire scolded.

“No mom, that’s not why we are scared, We like it here Uncle Justin and Uncle Brian are great. We have only been here two weeks and already we have some friends and I’m doing much better in school and Peter doesn’t have nightmares as much anymore.” John said.

“But...”

“No mom, we don’t want to come home with you. You never had time for us and you yelled at us all the time. Do you know how many times we have been yelled at since we moved in here?”

“No.”

“None, no one yells at us. If we do something we’re not supposed to we don’t get any privileges but they never yell.”

Brian and Justin had been stunned during all of this but Justin came out of his reverie.

“What do you mean that Peter doesn’t have nightmares as much? Why didn’t you tell us that he had nightmares? You should wake us when something like that happens so that we can help, ok?”

Both boys nodded.

“Promise us that you will come for us next time?” Brian added.

“Yes Uncle Brian.” John said.

“Good boy. I think that you two should run out and play some soccer; I would like to talk to your mother for a while”

“Ok Uncle Brian.” Both boys said and ran out to put on their coats and boots and ran out into the garden.

Brian turned to Claire.

“I don’t want you to ask the boys something like that again without talking to me or Justin first. We have custody of those boys now and we will not have you confuse them and disrupt their routines. We have fought really hard to try and be home for them every night and have dinner and ‘playtime’ with them.”

“But they are my sons; you can’t just take them away from me.”

“I didn’t, the state did. If we hadn’t taken them, in they would have gone to foster care and you wouldn’t even have the opportunity to spend time with them. Did you know that we drive them to school every morning and that so far Justin has picked them up every afternoon? He helps them with their homework every day and we talk to them during dinner about our days. They have even had friends over for a sleepover when we had a party. They told us they had never had a sleepover before because you were convinced that they would turn gay if they did.”

“Well you did. You didn’t turn gay until you started sleeping at that Novotny boy’s house.” She spat.

“I was gay from the moment I was born Claire. I even knew about it when I was twelve. Justin only ever had sleepovers with his friend Daphne until he was seventeen, and trust me by then he knew he was gay.” Brian smirked at Justin who gave him a huge sunshine smile in return. “Besides one of the overnight guests was John’s friend Erica and Justin’s sister Molly. They slept in a guest room while Erica’s twin brother slept in John’s room and Peter’s friend Bobby slept in his room. As you might have noticed both boys have bunk beds just for this purpose.”

“John has a girlfriend? Don’t you think he’s a little young for that I won’t allow it.”

“Erica is not his girlfriend; she is a friend who is a girl. Besides you can’t allow or not allow anything concerning the boys anymore, they are our responsibility and we decide what they can and can not do.” Brian told her with steel in his voice and his sister just looked at him like he had just grown an extra head.

“Of course I can decide what they can and can not do, they are my sons.”

“Yes they are your sons and they always will be, but we are their guardians and as such we have final say in anything pertaining to them.”

“Are you just going to cut me out of their lives?” Claire was in tears now.

“No we are not trying to cut you out, but we have to do what is best for the boys. And right now that is to be in a stable home with rules and stability. We can provide them with that and you can’t. You are more than welcome to visit with them as much as possible but you have to check with us first and one of us will be present at all times. We cannot have you and your crooked views of gays influence them anymore. They have learned to respect us and we are not jeopardizing that for anything. I hope you can understand that Claire, we only want what is best for the boys.” Brian’s voice had gone a little softer in the end of that.

Claire looked at her little brother with tears in her eyes but finally she had to look down when she saw that he was sincere.

“I understand. I think I will go home now, can I say goodbye to the boys?”

“You have to; they would be really upset if you didn’t.” Justin went to call the boys in.

“John, Peter come say goodbye to your mother, she is leaving now.”

“Ok Uncle Justin, we are coming.”

When Claire had left, they sat in the media room and talked.

“What did you tell mom when we went outside?” John asked in a worried voice.

“We told her that she can visit as much as she like to but that she has to ask us first and that either Justin or I would be there when she does.”

“Do you want us to go back and live with her?” Peter said in a small voice.

“No, we love having you here and you are not going anywhere, do you understand?” Justin said with conviction.

Both of them looked relived. They smiled and nodded their heads.

“Good, now I think it’s just about time for dinner.”

Monday morning Justin and Brian was sitting on the sofa in Brian’s office at Kinnetik going over the plans for Tay-Kin art when the door was banged open and Joan Kinney came in followed by Cynthia.

“I’m sorry guys, she just stormed right past me, I didn’t have time to stop her.”

“That’s alright Cynthia. If she is not out of here in fifteen minutes would you have security come in here, thanks.”

“Sure thing Boss.” With that, she left the office and closed the door carefully.

“Hello Mother, what can we do for you?”

“Why have you never told me you have a son?” Joan asked accusingly.

“Because I never wanted you to know about him. I didn’t want you anywhere near him.”

“I have a right to see my grandson.” She said indignant.  
“No you don’t. He hasn’t got anything to do with you.”

“Of course he does. I want to see him.”

“Well that really isn’t possible since he moved to Toronto with his mothers last week.”

Joan opened her mouth as if to say something but nothing came out. She tried again a couple of times.

“Toronto? You just let them take your son to Canada? How could you?”

“It really isn’t any of your business Mother. If you would pleas leave now we have work to do.” Brian said coolly.

“You told Claire that she can’t take her sons home. Who do you think you are?”

“I’m their legal guardian, that’s who I think I am. Claire can se them as much as she likes as long as one of us is present and she asks for y permission first. They are doing so much better already and we are not under circumstances jeopardizing that. Now get out of our building.” Brian had gotten on his feet, took his mother’s arm, and escorted her to the door. She almost refuses to leave but then Clark; the security guard showed up and escorted her of the premises.

“Well Sunshine, now that Mommy dearest is gone, should we get back to work?”

“Sure thing Bri, we don’t have much time before I have to pick up the boys.”


	7. The 'devil' returns

Life in the Taylor-Kinney household took an unexpected and not too pleasant turn on Monday after Claire’s visit.

After driving the boys to school, Justin went to Kinnetik to go with Brian to Babylon and Tay-Kin Art to check up on the progress of the renovations. At Babylon the renovations was almost complete. The only thing missing was painting and putting up all the bars, podiums, stage, sofas and put in the toilets.

When they came to Tay-Kin Art, they went inside to try to find Dan. He was standing talking to another of the construction crew. Dan had his face to the door and gave them a small wave before turning his attention back to his colleague.

When they were done talking the other man turned towards Brian and Justin and both of them turned completely pale. Justin started trembling and Brian clenched his fists and jaw.

“Dan, would you be kind enough to go and get your foreman?” Brian asked while he pulled Justin closer to him.

Dan sensing that something was seriously wrong left without saying anything and came back a little while later followed by Mr. Stone, the foreman.

“Mr. Taylor-Kinney what seems to be the problem?”

“I would like you to remove that man from these premises and never have him return her ever again, is that clear?”

“Yes Mr. Taylor-Kinney. Do you mind my asking what the problem with Mr. Hobbs is sir?”

“Well Mr. Hobbs went to high-school with my husband. He harassed him all of senior year and ended the year by bashing him in the head with a baseball bat at their prom.” Brian said with pure hate in his voice.

Both Mr. Stone and Dan looked chocked and Mr. Stone hurried over to Chris Hobbs and escorted him out the door.

When he came back, Dan had gone over to Justin and put his hand on his arm.

“Are you ok Justin? I’m really sorry about that. Do you want to talk about it?”

“I went to the prom with my friend Daphne. We were dancing when she tabbed me on my shoulder to look behind me. Brian had showed up even though he had said no when I asked him. We danced and Brian kissed me, in front of the entire senior class. I followed him to his jeep in the parking garage of the hotel. I left to go back to Daphne and Brian got in the jeep and looked in the external rear-view mirror. He saw Chris come up behind me with the bat. He called out my name and I turned around, unfortunately, he was too late and Chris hit me in the head.

I was in several surgeries for three days where they didn’t know if I would live or die. After that I was in a coma for 2 weeks and rehab in the hospital for 6 weeks.”

When Justin had started, talking Mr. Stone had come back inside and heard the story.

“Mr. Taylor-Kinney I really do apologize. We always check our employees’ criminal record. The only thing he had was community service for a simple assault. We asked him and he said it was a bar fight when he was young and stupid. We didn’t think anything of it.”

“Well Mr. Stone the so called simple assault was his violent assault on Justin, but since Justin is gay the judge felt that Chris had been provoked by our dance and as he had been drinking he wasn’t responsible for his actions.”

Both men looked at Brian with open mouth and unbelieving expressions on their faces.

“Are you serious? He only got community service for hitting someone in the head with a baseball bat? That’s just so wrong.” Dan looked disgusted.

“Yeah well that’s some of the things you have to get used to being gay.” Brian said matter-of-factly.

“Well I will have a talk with Mr. Anders and tell him the truth about Chris’s community service. I’m certain that he will fire him for lying to us about it. We do not tolerate bigotry of any kind at our company. I apologize again.”

“Don’t worry about it Mr. Stone you couldn’t possibly know. I’m afraid that we are not really up to seeing how the renovations are going today. We will be back at another time. Dan, Mr. Stone.” Brian said in parting. He hugged Justin close o his side and led him out the door. They went to Justin’s car and Brian drove them home.

He followed Justin up to their bedroom and put him to bed. Justin fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit his pillow.

Brian went down into the kitchen where he found Mrs. Jacobson.

“Mrs. Jacobson, would you ask Harry to pick up the boys today? We had an unfortunate run in with the man who bashed Justin.”

They had already told Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson about the incident when thy first hired them. They needed to know in case there were any kind of problems.

“Oh my god Mr. Taylor-Kinney is he alright? Are you?”

“We’re fine, or we will be. We just need a little time alone together. Will you tell the boys that we will be down for dinner but that they should go ahead and do their homework?”

“I will Mr. Taylor-Kinney, don’t worry about the boys. We will take good care of them.”

“Thank you Mrs. Jacobson, I know you will.”

Brian went to join Justin in their bed and spooned the younger man against him. He was worried about him, Justin had told him about his little run in with Chris during his days with the Pink Posse and he had hoped that neither one of them would ever see the fucked up coward ever again.

When they both woke up a few hours later, they had a shower and a long talk. They agreed that they had to tell the boys what was going on and maybe they needed to get away for a couple of days just the two of them. They did have to cancel their honeymoon after all.

When they came down it was time for dinner. When they sat down to eat the boys was sending them worried looks.

“Are you alright Uncle Brian and Uncle Justin?” Peter finally broke down and asked.

“We are fine but we have something to tell you. We would like to wait until after dinner and then go sit in the living room or media room, is that ok?”

“Ok Uncle Brian.”

They finished their dinner and cleared out the table. They went to sit in the living room and got comfortable. Brian sat on the sofa with one leg along the back and the other foot on the floor. Justin sat between his legs resting his bag against Brian’s chest. They both needed that contact for what they were about to do.

“Well boys, what we are about to tell you is something neither one of us is really likes talking about. It is a really bad memory for the both of us but me more than Justin since he really doesn’t remember most of it.”

“Why don’t you remember it Uncle Justin?” Peter looked at him with worry.

“That’s part of the story we want to tell you.” Justin says trying to keep his voice soothing.

“You both know that Justin and met when Justin was seventeen, right?”

“Sure, you told us that.”

“Good, you saw and heard at our wedding how we met and that I drove him to school the next day. From then on everybody suddenly knew that he was gay and that gave the jock’s of his school an excuse to taunt him. They used to push him around and one day they even set his locker on fire.”

“Oh my god, how could they do that? Did you have any of your sketch pads in there?” John asked.

Both Justin and Brian looked at him in confusion.

“Well you always have a sketch pad with you I only assumed you were the same back then.” He gave a little shrug and smiled.

“Actually I did. I had a sketchbook filled with sketches of the gang. Most of them were of Brian of course and I really hated loosing those.”

“The school really didn’t do anything to stop this Justin did not exactly have a great school year. When it came time for prom he first didn’t want to go, he felt it was for straight kids and not for him. His mother and Debbie talked him into it and he asked me to be his date.”

“Wow that took a lot of guts. What did they all say when you two showed up?” John looked impressed.

“I turned him down. I was an asshole back then and didn’t want to let go of my old image as the stud of Liberty Avenue. I told everybody that I didn’t do boyfriends despite the fact that Justin in for all intent and purposes was my boyfriend. Justin went to prom with his friend Daphne, you remember her? She was his best man at the wedding.”

“Yeah we remember. We kinda thought it was weird to have a girl as a best man.” They both looked a little ashamed.

“That’s alright it is a little weird. But Daph’s my best friend and I couldn’t have asked anybody else.”

“On the night of the prom I had an epiphany, I realized that I loved Justin and that I didn’t care who knew and I desperately wanted him to know so I put on a tuxedo and went to the hotel where the prom was held. I walked in scared out of my mind until I spotted them and Daphne spotted me. She tapped Justin’s shoulder and he turned around. When he saw me, he smiled and my nerves just subsided. I asked him to dance and we went out into the dance floor. Everybody parted for us and we were the only ones dancing. We danced to the same song they were playing at the wedding for our first dance. We were amazing, you would have thought that we had practiced for months but in all reality, we had never danced like that before. When the song ended I kissed him in front of the entire senior class and all the teachers.”

Brian took a deep breath and held on to one of Justin’s hands to ground himself.

“This is where the beautiful and glorious part of the evening ends. Justin walked me down to the parking garage; he was going to stay a little longer with Daphne and the take her home like they had planned. We were singing and dancing the whole way down there, we were so happy. Justin told me it was the best night of his life and instead of giving him some snarky remark like I usually did I said ‘even if it was ridiculously romantic’ we kissed and said later. Justin walked away towards the elevators and I was looking at him through the rear view mirror. Suddenly I saw a guy come up behind him with a baseball bat. I got out of the car and screamed Justin’s name. He turned around but in the same instant, Chris Hobbs swung and hit him in the head. I ran like I have never in my life run before and got the bat away from him, I was afraid he would hit Justin again so I hit his knees. I ran to Justin, took his head in my lap, and screamed for help. When I finally started thinking, I realized I had my cell phone and I called 911. As it turned out Justin was in surgery for the most part of three days and in a coma for two weeks after that. When he finally woke up he had to stay in the hospital for another six weeks of rehab.”

Brian had tears running down his cheeks at that point and both boys looked pale and scared.

“Look boys we’re not trying to scare you but you needed to know this because today we found out that Chris Hobbs had been working on the construction at Tay-Kin Art. We saw him today and it threw s for a loop. We might be in a bit of a funk for the next couple of days and we didn’t want you to worry that maybe you had done something wrong.”

“Uncle Brian said that you don’t remember most of it, what part don’t you remember?” John asked.

“The last thing I remember is Brian turning me down to go with me. After a while I remembered the bat coming at me but I don’t remember any of our dance or how happy we were.”

Justin had tears in his eyes too and was a little pale.

“I’m so sorry. That’s horrible. How come that guy isn’t in prison?”

“The only punishment he got was community service. The judge felt that Justin had been largely at fault for flaunting his deviant behavior and since Chris had been drinking he couldn’t be held accountable for his actions after such a provocation.”

“WHAT? Are you kidding? He only got community service after almost killing you?” John was outraged.

“I’m afraid so.”

“We told the foreman on the construction crew that we didn’t want Hobbs working there and he was escorted of the property and we will most likely not see him again anytime soon. We don’t want you to worry about us but you needed to know. We have talked about maybe going away just the two of us for a couple of days. We would ask someone to stay here with you while we were away, but only if you are ok with it.”

“Of course you should go; you didn’t even have a honeymoon. Who would stay with us? John asked a little apprehensive.

“That’s up to you. We could ask Debbie or Jennifer.”

“As long as it isn’t mom.” Peter looked down when he said it, a little embarrassed but also determined.

“We already told you that she can only come visit when one of us is here. How about we ask Jennifer and she can take Molly with her? Would you like that?”

“Yeah that would be great. I like Molly she’s a lot of fun.” John said.

“Well then that’s a plan. We’ll find a date and call Jennifer tomorrow. Now it’s time for bed and remember if any of you have a nightmare you come and get us.”

“We will. Good night Uncle Brian, good night Uncle Justin.”

“Good night boys.”


	8. Set-backs at work and a honeymoon planned

Their plans for a little get-away had to be postponed due to some problems with a client.

Eyeconics suddenly didn’t like their campaign and it had to be done from scratch. Both Brian and Justin worked very long hours to try to come up with something along the lines of what the client wanted.

They stuck to the routine with the boys but when they were in bed, the men went to their home office to continue working for a few hours.

When they were finally satisfied that they had a kick ass add they called a new meeting.

Brian and Justin were both present when the woman from Eyeconics was showed into the conference room. She looked at Justin for a while and then she recognized him.

“I told you to be careful or the kid would have your job someday.” She said with a smirk.

“You did, but you are not quite right. You see this is Justin Taylor-Kinney, my husband.”

Her mouth dropped as she gaped at them.

“You’re gay? I didn’t know that.”

“It has never been a secret it has just never come up.” Brian said tongue in cheek.

Justin gave him a look that said ‘you are so bad’ and tried to hide his smile.

“Should we get started on the presentation?” Justin was all business.

“Sure, let’s see what you’ve got.”

When the presentation was over and the contract was signed, Brian and Justin let them selves celebrate with a trip to the diner for lunch.

“Hey, kiddo, Sunshine. What are you two doing here?” Debbie asked while giving them a bone-crushing hug each.

“We just landed a multi million dollar account and wanted to celebrate.” Justin was smiling.

“That’s great, congratulations.”

“Thanks maw.” Brian gave her a smirk and took Justin to sit in a booth in the back.

They did see Michael sitting in another booth but neither was really in the mood for him at that moment. As usual, Michael didn’t know how to take a hint, came over, and sat down next to Brian.

“Brian didn’t you see me sitting there?” The usual whine was firmly in place.

“Yes, we did Michael we just wanted to be alone to celebrate right now.”

“What are you celebrating? Did you take home a nice piece of ass for a three-way last night?” Michael was as clueless as ever.

Justin and Brian just stared at him.

“Why the fuck would we want to do that? We have kids in the house and neither of us has tricked in four months.” Justin asked incredulously.

“Like I would believe that you would ever be enough for Brian. We both know that he will never be monogamous, especially not with you.” Michael had a disdainful look on his face.

“Shut the fuck up Michael. You do not talk to my husband like that. Get the fuck away from me.” Brian gave him a push to get out of the booth and turned towards Debbie. “Hey Deb, could you make our order to go? We don’t like the company in here.”

“Sure kiddo.” She said and shook her head. When was her son going to learn?

They left the diner with their food and went to Kinnetik. They went to Brian’s office and locked the door. They put the food on the table in front of the sofa and sat down to have a quite lunch.

“Why the fuck can’t he just accept that you and I are happy together and I don’t fucking need to trick anymore?” Brian was genuinely puzzled and sad.

“I don’t know Bri. I think it’s because he hasn’t progressed beyond twenty-nine where you’re concerned. I think Ben’s right, he liked that you needed him back then. He couldn’t have you the way he really wanted but he still got to put you to bed on a regular basis. You still depended on him and you don’t really need him like that anymore.”

“Maybe you’re right. It just kills me that he can’t be happy for me, for us. He was supposed to be you’re friend too and he uses every opportunity to try and degrade you and our relationship.”

“I hate to tell you this, but that is partly your fault.”

“My fault, how?” Brian looked at Justin with a hurt expression.

“How many times have you told anybody who would listen that you didn’t do relationships and you didn’t do love? For a very long time I was the trick who didn’t go away, your stalker who was handy for a fuck if there weren’t any other fuckable guy around.”

Brian looked as if Justin had slapped him.

“My god I did, didn’t I? How the fuck do you accept that I have changed after I have treated you like that for so fucking long?”

“Brian, it was really only when other people were around that you acted that way. You were a completely different person when we were alone together. Those moments were what convinced me that you loved me and that I was more than what you told everybody else. I’m on to you, remember?” Justin smiled and gave him a kiss.

“Yeah I remember. I’m glad you are otherwise we would never have gotten to where we are today. I don’t think we would even have seen each other after that first night, despite the fact that it was one spectacular night.” Brian smirks.

“It really was. I don’t think any other virgin have ever been deflowered quite so wonderfully before. When my mother came into the office at Babylon at our wedding, she asked if that really was how we met. When I told her, it was she was rather shocked that I had just gone with you a complete stranger. I told her that I wasn’t scared and she just looked at me.” Justin and Brian both laugh at that. “I said ok I was scared but not that you were going to rape or kill me. She then told me she hoped you were gentle with me.”

Brian’s eyes got really big.

“She didn’t? Wow, that’s so un-WASP like. I’m impressed. What did you tell her?”

“I told her not to worry that you were very gentle with me and that you are an exceptional lover.” Justin winked.

“That goes without saying Sunshine.” Brian pulled the smaller man to him and kissed him passionately.

“Do you have more work you have to do here today?”

“No, I can finish whatever I have at home. What did you have in mind?”

“Let’s go check on Tay-Kin. We never did see how far they have progressed.”

“That sounds like a plan, let’s go Sunshine.”

They went next door and immediately saw Dan.

“Hey Dan, how’s it going?”

“Brian, Justin, we’re actually a week ahead of schedule at this point. That can all change at the drop of hat. So far we have been lucky with all our suppliers and we all know that can’t possibly go on.” All three men laughed at that. “Do you want the grand tour?”

“Sure, how far along are you?” Justin asked their new friend.

“The skeleton of the building has been exposed and fortified and we are in the process of erecting new walls.”

“That sounds good.”

While they had been talking, they had moving around the large space.

“How is the upstairs coming along?”

“We are working simultaneously on both floors and they are equally far along. This means that we are two crews working at the same time.”

“That sounds great. I can’t wait to start looking for artists to expose on the walls down here.”

“Who will be working in the studios upstairs?”

“Well I will get the biggest one, mainly because I usually work on large scale canvases and this is our building.” Justin smiled and winked. “The smaller ones will be rented out to the artists who will be featured in the gallery. We will accept applications from young artists and if we feel they have something new and interesting to bring to the table we will let them use one of our studios for six months and then give them a show of the work they have done in that time period.”

“Wow that sounds great. Will they have to pay rent in that time?”

“Yes, but it is not only a studio, there is small apartments attached to each studio. Only one room with an open kitchen and a small bathroom, but if you are a starving artist, it will be like heaven. They will still have to work a job besides painting but the rent will be extremely reasonable. They will have to sign a contract with us to ensure that they will not give their work to another gallery when the six month is up, but after that they are free to do whatever they want to do.”

“That should be quite the opportunity for a young artist.”

“It should, we have four studios/apartments which means that they will be able to feed of off each other as well. We hope that it will be a success. We have already given some brochures and application forms to PIFA and other art schools in the area.”

“How did you come up with that idea?”

“I would have loved if something like that had been available for me when I needed it at I figured that others must feel the same way.”

“I hope it becomes a great success.”

“Thank you so much Dan. And thanks for the tour. We have to get going; we have to pick up the boys.” Justin and Brian left after having shaken Dan’s hand.

The next thing setting their ‘honeymoon’ back was the re-opening of Babylon.

The rebuilding was finally complete and Kinnetik came up with a brilliant add, of course, and when the opening night approached there was an all out campaign in all the fag rags in town. They emphasized that the homophobic assholes who blew up the club to begin with shouldn’t win. That they should show them that fags aren’t that easily beaten. They sent out invitations for a private opening ceremony followed by the official opening for the masses.

It was an extravaganza and an immediate success. The place was packed from the beginning and the line went almost all the way around the club.

Justin and Brian stood on the catwalk overlooking their kingdom, the sweating and dancing men below.

“We did it Sunshine. The thumpa thumpa continues and nothing has changed.” Brian said in defeat.

“Everything has changed Brian. Prop 14 was defeated, the homophobes lost and Babylon is pumping once again, the fags won this round.” Justin gave him a full on sunshine smile and Brian smiled back.

“Let’s go home to our kids.”

“Ok, Bri. Lead the way.”

They left the club in the hands of the manager and went home to the life they had learned to love.

Finally, in the beginning of May things looked up for the two. Justin contacted Cynthia and had her schedule some free time for Brian around Memorial Day.

Justin made all the reservations and all the plans without Brian’s knowledge.

When finally Friday 27 May rolled around he had Brian up and ready to go to work like he used to but stopped him short of actually leaving.

“Sorry Big Guy, you are not going to work today.”

“I’m not? Why not?”

“We are going on our long awaited honeymoon. We are driving the boys to school and then we are leaving.”

Brian smiled brightly.

“Where are we going?”

“That’s a surprise. All I’m going to tell you is that I have already packed and our bags are in the car. Mr. Jacobson is going to pick up the boys from school today and a little while later my mother and Molly will be here to spend the long weekend with them. The boys already know.”

“How did you manage to plan all of this without me finding out?”

“I have my ways. If I told you I couldn’t do it anymore and where’s the fun in that?”

The boys came barreling down the stairs and into the kitchen to have breakfast.

“Good morning boys. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes thank you Uncle Brian. Did Uncle Justin tell you yet?”

“He told me, how come you didn’t tell me anything? I thought we were family and that we stuck together.” He asked with a pout that neither boy bought.

“Yeah well Uncle Justin is family too and he had the better argument.”

“What argument?” Brian looked at Justin suspiciously.

“He told us that you hadn’t ever had a vacation together. That just sucks Uncle Brian.”

“Yeah I know. It really sucks.”

“When you’re ready boys we will take you to school and be on our way.” Justin told the boys.

“Ok Uncle Justin.”

Both boys started eating a little faster and soon they were all on their way out the door.

After dropping the boys off and saying their goodbyes to them, they were on their way. Justin was driving since it was his car and Brian didn’t know where they were going.

They went on the I-79 N towards Pittsburgh but turned off towards Buffalo before getting all the way into town. Now Brian was really curious since he thought that they were going to the airport.

After about five hours the arrived at their destination the Embassy Suites Hotel in Niagara Falls.

“Niagara Falls Sunshine? How very…traditional of you.” Brian looked puzzled.

“I have booked us a presidential suite on the forty second floor, and a helicopter ride over the falls. We are staying here for two nights and on Sunday we are driving to Toronto to visit the girls and the kids.”

Brian got tears in his eyes and grabbed Justin in a bear hug.

“Thank you so much Sunshine. I love you.”

“I love you too. I figured that as long as we were in Canada for our honeymoon we might as well be as corny as we could and go to Niagara Falls.”

“It’s perfect. I love it. I’m looking forward to the ride in the helicopter that should be fun.” Brian was really getting into it and smiled widely.

“Let’s go check in and then we can grab some lunch. After lunch we can go to the falls, how does that sound?”

“Sounds like a plan Sunshine.”

When they stepped put of their car a valet and a bellhop came to help them. The bellhop put their suitcases on a cart and the valet took the keys from Justin and gave him a ticket.

They went to the front desk and a man came to great them.

“May I help you gentlemen?”

“Hello, we have a reservation under the name of Taylor-Kinney.” Justin told him.

“Yes, a presidential suite I see. If I could just see your passports and then the bellhop will help you with your luggage.”

“Here you go.” Justin gave the man both their passports and Brian got a look in them and saw that they were both brand new and with their new last names on them. He smiled at Justin.

“You have thought of everything, haven’t you?”

“I think so.” Justin gave him a small peck on the lips and turned towards the concierge again.

“There you go Mr. Taylor-Kinney. You are on the forty-second floor. The elevators are over there.” He said pointing towards a bank of elevators.

“Thank you.” They took back their passports and went to the elevators with the bellhop trailing them.

When they came to the suite both of them gasped at the beautiful sight of the falls in all their glory right outside the windows. The view from the room was spectacular they could see both the Canadian and the US falls.

They tipped the bellhop and started unpacking. When they were done, they took a quick shower and went to The Keg Steakhouse & Bar located at the ninth floor of the hotel.

Justin had a Caesar Salad and a New York stake, while Brian had a Spinach Salad and Grilled Thai Chicken. Both had a glass of white wine with the salad and Justin had red wine with his steak while Brian kept with the white.

After a really good lunch, they went to see the falls. They both brought a raincoat so they didn’t get to wet. After the little excursion, they decided that they would just order room service for dinner and just relax for the rest of the evening.

The next day they went to meet the helicopter that would take them on a tour of the falls. Both men were in awe of the beauty and really enjoyed the tour. They decided to order room service for lunch and take a nap.

They went out to explore the city of Niagara Falls Fallsview and just walked around taking in the atmosphere. They did a little shopping for souvenirs for everybody at home and for the ones waiting for them on Toronto.

For dinner, they went to The Keg Steakhouse & Bar again.

After dinner, they packed up their suitcases so they would be ready for an early departure the next day. When they woke up, they took a shower packed up the last of their things and went to check out.

“I hope you have enjoyed your stay with us sirs.” The concierge said as he processed the credit card.

“Yes thank you. It has been wonderful.” Justin said.

“Thank you for staying with us. We hope you will consider staying with us again should you ever return here.”

“Thank you and goodbye.” Brian took Justin’s hand and they walked out to their car. Brian got in the drivers seat, now that he knew where they were going he wanted to drive. It was only eighty miles and would take approximately an hour and a half to get there.

Both of them were anxious to see all of them again but especially Gus. When they arrived the door flung open and Gus barreled down the stairs and out to the car. He jumped in Justin’s arms since he was the first he reached.

“Pops, Pops you’re really here. I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too Gus. My you have grown since the last time we saw you.”

Gus beamed at him and then he saw his father.

“Daddy!”

Justin handed over the boy and Brian held him to his chest very tightly until the boy started to squirm.

“Let me down Daddy. I want to show you my room and your room.”

“Our room?” Brian looked confused.

“We are staying with the girls for the night. We are leaving tomorrow afternoon and I thought that this way we would have as much time with them as possible.”

“You are amazing Justin.”

“Thank you kind sir.” Justin gave a slight bow and both Brian and Gus laughed.

They walked in to the house and said their hello’s to the girls including JR.

Gus led them to a room on the second floor where they would be spending the night and then he showed them his room. They played with the boy a little and then it was time for lunch.

Next day when it was time to go home, JR had taken to calling Brian Daddy and Justin Pops, just like her big brother did. The girls groaned at the thought of having to get her to stop again before Michael got wind of it.

The drive home was a little more subdued than the drive out had been but they both looked forward to seeing John and Peter again and tell them all about their wonderful trip. Next trip they would all go as a family.


	9. Family

The school year had ended and both John and Peter had gotten good grades and there had been no trouble with either of them at their new schools.

John was turning sixteen on June 18 and had started driver’s school. He had even persuaded Justin into giving him a few lessons on their way to school some mornings and now he was ready to take the test.

“Are you nervous Johnny?” Brian asks the boy when they have breakfast on the day of the test.

“Maybe a little, I can’t wait for it to be over. I just hope I pass.”

“Why wouldn’t you? You are a very responsible driver and I think you are doing great.” Justin tried to calm him.

“Yeah but this is different, this is a test and I don’t do well on tests.”

“All evidence to the contrary. You did extremely well on all your tests at school. All your teachers had good things to say about you and we are both very proud of you. Of both of you actually, you have both done so well.” Brian looked at both boys and smiled.

They both looked very pleased about the praise and blushed slightly.

“Thank you Uncle Brian. That means a lot to us that you think so.”

“You’re welcome. No go get ready, we are leaving in fifteen minutes.”

They finished their breakfast and went upstairs to get ready.

“I don’t think those two ever got very many compliments or praises from Claire.” Justin says looking at Brian.

“I know, well I figured, she probably took a page from dear mom and dad. They never told us if we did something right only if we did something wrong. I really try Justin, to not make the same mistake with them.”

“You are doing a great job Brian, they are not the same boys who came to live with us, and they are much more at ease in their own skin and not nervous all the time. I think we have done a great job with them so far.” Justin smiled and gave Brian a kiss.

“I hope so Sunshine, I really do.”

Later that day, they all came home singing a song that had been playing on the radio while they drove home. They came into the kitchen and Mrs. Jacobson looked at them and smiled.

“Congratulation John, I take it you passed your driver’s test”

“Yes I did. This is so great I have my own driver’s license, now all I need is a car.” He smiled brightly and left to call Eric and Erica to tell them the good news.

Brian and Justin just smiled at each other and told Peter to go wash up before lunch.

On John’s birthday, which was a Saturday, the whole family and all of the friends descended, Debbie, Carl, Michael, Ben, Hunter, Emmett, Ted, Blake, Lindsay, Melanie, Gus, JR, Jennifer, Tucker, Molly, Daphne, Claire, Dan, Sam, Ed, Helen, Eric, Erica, and Bobby.

The pool had been cleaned and filled to the delight of all of the children and quite a few of the adults. The girls were in town for a week and when they went home Gus was staying at Britin and JR was staying with Michael and Ben for an additional three weeks. Brian was happy as a clam and Justin was glowing.

“Johnny, time for presents.” Brian yelled at the boy who was playing in the pool.

“I’ll be right there Uncle Brian.” All of the pool people got out and dried of a little before sitting on whatever chair they could find.

John got a new IPod from Debbie and Carl, two new computer games from Michael, Ben and Hunter, a gift certificate to a music store from Ted and Blake, a new pair of jeans from Emmett, two cool t-shirts from Daphne, a watch from Jennifer, Tucker and Molly, a CD with his favorite band from his mother and a pair of new and very expensive shoes he had been talking about for months from Sam, Dan, Ed, Helen and the kids. When all the presents were opened, he went around saying thank you to everybody when he realized he didn’t get anything from Brian and Justin. He looked at them a little confused but they just laughed and led him to the garage where a brand new dark blue Ford F-15 stood with at blue bow on the hood.

“Wha... are you serious? Is this my car?” John was babbling and smiling from ear to ear.

“Yes this is your car, we put it on our incurrence, but you will have to get a part time job to pay for gas.” Brian told the boy with a smile.

John all but jumped in his uncle’s arms and gave him a huge hug next, it was Justin’s turn.

“Thank you so much Uncle Brian and Uncle Justin, I love it. Can I take it for a quick spin?”

“You can take it for a slow drive into town with Peter, Bobby, Eric and Erica and then a slow drive home, ok?”

“Ok Uncle Justin, I’ll drive carefully. Come on guys let’s move.”

All five kids scrambled to get in the car but Erica had been the fastest and called shotgun. When they had left everybody else went back to the patio to relax until the kids were back.

“I think you spoil the boys Brian and I don’t appreciate it.” Claire said scolding her younger brother.

“Well Claire, I really don’t give a rat’s ass what you think. John has got a 3.0 grade average this year and he has been doing his chores around the house without complaint and he is polite to everybody and haven’t gotten himself in any kind of trouble since he came to live here so I really think he deserve a reward. Besides, he might not be as happy when he finds out that he will have to take Peter with him every morning and afternoon when they start school again. After all they are going to the same school next year since Peter starts high school in September.”

“He’s got a 3.0 grade average?”

“Yes he does. He is doing really well and all of his teachers are praising him for his discipline and attentiveness in class.” Justin was really proud of the boy and that was evident in his voice.

“But he ever only got C’s and D’s before.” Claire looked crestfallen.

“Not anymore, he is a very intelligent boy and just needed some stability and a little help to bloom to his full potential. I’m sure he will do even better as a junior and I have no doubt that he will finish high school with top grades and be accepted to what ever college he chooses to go to.” Brian looked right at Claire and she became red in the face.

“But I can’t afford college.”

“No one asked you to pay. We can afford it and we are going to pay for it. The boys live with us now and therefore it’s our responsibility that they get the best education possible.”

“But Brian they are still my sons.”

“Yes they are and that will never change but you said it your self, you can’t afford to send them to college and we can, end of story.” Brian had a look on his face that broke no argument. “Who is hungry?” He turned towards the rest of the guests. All of them replied in the affirmative.

Brian had started the barbecue and was grilling up a storm when the kids came back.

“That’s an awesome car, I really love it.” John was glowing and the other kids agreed it was a great car.

“Good, you do know that you will have to take Peter with you to and from school every day when you start up again?”

“Yeah I kind of figured but that’s ok, I don’t mind.”

“Good boy, are you kids hungry?”

“YES.” All of them shouted.

“Good the food is almost done. Could you go help Mrs. Jacobson bring out all of it from the kitchen?”

They all went inside to grab something and put it on the table on the patio. Justin opened the large sunshade and all the chairs were put back to the table from where they had been scattered during the afternoon.

Mrs. Jacobson had made potato salad, green salad, baked potatoes, bread, and a huge birthday cake and with the stakes, hamburgers and hotdogs from the grill everybody was nice and full when dinner was over.

Lindsay, Melanie and the children were staying at Britin while they were there since JR and Gus had there own rooms and there were a room for the mothers as well.

On Monday, Brian and Justin went to Kinnetik to get ready for a meeting with a potential client. The secretary of the CEO of a very large cosmetic company had called to set up a meeting. She had said that her boss, Mrs. White, wanted to see the owner of the agency.

Cynthia showed her into Brian’s office.

“Mrs. White, I’m Brian Taylor-Kinney and this is Justin Taylor-Kinney, how may we help you?”

“I asked to talk to the owner of the agency, a Brian Kinney.” She answered a little apprehensively.

“Mrs. White I used to be Brian Kinney and the sole owner of this agency, but I have gotten married and half the company now belongs to my husband.” Brian explained.

“I see, well this is not actually a business visit but rather a personal one.”

“Personal? I’m not sure I follow Mrs. White.”

“I will tell you my life story and then I hope you won’t throw my out of your office. I am forty years old and the only child of Pamela and Andrew Fellows the owners of Fellows cosmetics. My parents have doted on me my whole life and I love them dearly. My father died five years ago and six months ago, my mother followed him. Before she died she told me I was not their child biologically but rather had been adopted when I was three hours old. She told me that my birth mother was very young and couldn’t provide a life for me and therefore chose to give me up. As you might suspect it was quite a shock for me and I mulled it over for about a month before I hired a PI to try to find out who my biological parents are. With the help of a lot of money and a lot of man-hours, he found out that my mother’s name was Joan Kinney and at the time of my birth, she had been married for seven months. He also found out that her husband Jack Kinney was in fact my father but he didn’t want children that soon after the wedding because he didn’t have a job and therefore couldn’t provide for his wife, let alone a child.” Brian had been staring at her with his mouth hanging open for the entire story and Justin had taken his hand and rubbed calming circles on his back. “I went to see my birth mother yesterday and she slammed the door in my face, I’m not sure she actually understood who I was, she looked a little…” Her voice trailed of.

“Drunk is the word you are looking for Mrs. White. The likelihood of her being drunk was very high.”

“My name is Catherine and it looks like I’m your sister so please call me Cat.”

“Are you serious? I have another sister? How the hell did they manage to keep that little tidbit a secret from everybody?”

“You mean to tell me no one ever told you that your, well our, parents had put a baby up for adoption in the first year of their marriage?”

“That’s what I’m saying, if I had known I would have looked for you a long time ago. Trust me, I could use a sister who is not a bigoted homophobe, and you don’t seem to mind having a gay brother.” Brian smirked and Cat laughed.

“No I don’t mind. I had a gay roommate in college and through her, I have met plenty of gay people. Working in the cosmetics business has also ensured that I have come across plenty of gay men. I take it you don’t get along with your sister Claire?”

“That would be an understatement, but it has gotten better for the last three months or so.”

“Why is that, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“No that’s quite all right. Claire and I have never gotten along. She was our father’s favorite and as such never got the shit beaten out of her. I guess I resented her for that and she in turn resented the fact that I’m smarter than her. I fought very hard to get straight A’s and get a scholarship to go to college in order to get the hell out of that house. I have been very successful in my endeavors and for some reason my family feels that, I owe them something. They expect me to give them money and if I don’t they call me a selfish prick. A couple of years ago Claire came to my office begging me to take care of her oldest, John, because her youngest Peter had broken his arm and was in the hospital. She couldn’t find a sitter at such short notice and mother dearest was drunk out of her mind. I took John with me to get something to eat and brought him to my friend’s comic book store. My friend gave him a lot of free comics and when we left, I took him to my loft. I had to take a shower and while I did that the little shit stole some money from me and when I caught him I flipped and dunked his head in the toilet, not my finest moment but he said that I owed them the money and I was just a stupid fag. When he got home he told Claire that I had made him suck me off and the bitch believed him and reported me to the cops.”

“Holy shit, this is some family I have found here. How did you get out of that one?”

“Actually that is Justin’s doing. Tell her Sunshine.”

“Well first, hi I’m really happy to meet you.” Justin gave her his hand and she shook it.

“I’m really happy to meet you too Justin. Sunshine?” Cat laughed.

“Yeah, the first time I met Debbie, who is the mother of Brian’s childhood friend and Brian’s surrogate mother, she started calling me Sunshine, and Brian soon followed.” He smiled at her.

“Do you see why?” Brian smiled at his husband with love in his eyes.

“I do, the room actually lit up at that smile.” Justin blushed.

“Well back to the story at hand. When I heard what John had accused Brian of I went to the arcade to confront him, he had told that he was there every day after school. I saw him wearing a very distinctive bracelet belonging to Brian and I went to detective Horvath who was a friend and we went to Claire’s house. When we asked him about the bracelet, he told his mother that he had gotten it at the mall. When detective Horvath got the bracelet from him he could see Brian’s initials on one of the shells and Claire dropped the suit when she found out that John had lied.”

“Shit that’s awful. You said that you have started to get better along with her in the last three months. What changed?”

“Well mother dearest come here to my office and told us that social services had taken the boys from Claire and unless a family member was willing to take the boys in they would go into foster care. I was willing to let that happen but Justin convinced me that I would regret it, they are family after all. We went to the social service office to seek custody of the boys and they granted it to us. We got custody of them on the day of our wedding some three months ago.”

Wow, that’s some story. I’m not sure I want a relationship with our mother if that is how he is. But I wouldn’t mind getting to know you two better if you’re interested.” She looked at them a little shyly and they looked at each other. Justin gave a little shrug of the shoulder as if to say ‘it’s your choice’.

“We would love to get to know you. How long are you in the Pitts?”

“Actually my husband just got a job teaching at PIFA and we are moving here. Our children is not happy but they are both starting high school here in September.”

“You have children? How many and what are they called?”

“Yes I have fourteen year old twins. A boy and a girl, their names are Kate and Luke.”

“I have a son. He will be six in September. He lives with his mothers in Toronto but is here for the next four weeks.” Brian looks at Justin. “We should have a little party on Saturday for the family that is if you and your family are free on Saturday Cat.”

“We have no plans for Saturday, but I didn’t think you got along with your family?” Cat looked confused.

“Our family consist of some of Justin’s biological family and some friends who are our chosen family. They are a weird bunch but they are our family.”

“I would love to meet them but I would really like to get to know you two a little better first. Are you free for lunch? Could we go somewhere to talk?”

“Sure, we could go to the diner but we might run into some of the family there. Is that ok?”

“Sure Brian, the diner sounds fine.”

“Ok. Let’s go then.” They left the office and Brian told Cynthia to hold down the fort.

When they got outside the noise from the construction next door was overwhelming.

“What are they building in there?”

Justin smiled brightly. “They are building my new gallery Tay-Kin Art. We hope the renovations will be done by the end of the summer.”

“I can hear that we have a lot to talk about. I want to hear it all.” Cat smiled and hooked her arms in one of Brian and Justin’s arms.

When they got to the diner, they got a booth in the back and sat down. Debbie was thankfully not working and no one from the gang showed up. They talked for about two hours before they had to part ways. By then Cat had heard almost all about the Brian and Justin show and she was impressed that they were still together.

“Let’s talk sometime during the week to finalize plans for Saturday. How does that sound?”

“That would be great Cat, I’ll call you on Wednesday, by then we should have gotten a hold on all of the family.”

“Ok, talk to you then.” She gave both men a hug and got in her car outside Kinnetik and drove of.

“Holy shit Brian, you have a sister who is actually really nice. I like her a lot, she seams like a good person.”

“I know, she was the lucky one, she got out of the family.” Brian looked a little sad.

“I know, but you have done so well for yourself and now you have the Gus, John, Peter, the family and most important me.” Justin gave him a sunshine smile and winked at him.

Brian laughed at grabbed his husband around the waist and gave him a toe-curling kiss.

“Let’s go home and call the family and invite them for Saturday. They are going to think we are nuts to invite them so soon after John’s birthday.”

“I know but who cares?”


	10. Meeting Cat

They had been to the stables to ride every Saturday and they were getting good enough to get their own horses. Brian had searched the net and found a web page where people sold horses privately. http://www.2buyhorses.com/pennsylvania_horses_for_sale.asp.

He did some research and found that the best bed would be to bye Paint horses. He called the owners of the four horses he thought was best qualified for their needs and made appointments for Friday.

They went to see the horses and get a trial ride. They all liked the horses Brian had picked for them and Brian arranged to have them delivered at Britin on Sunday.

With that done they could concentrate on getting ready for the party on Saturday where they would meet Cat’s husband and children. And the family would meet Cat.

All of the family had accepted the invitation even though they all wanted to know what it was all about. Brian and Justin just told them there was someone they wanted them all to meet.

Since Monday, Brian had been doing some digging to find out if Cat really was who she said, she was. He even went to his mother’s house, he didn’t ask her if it was true, he opted for going through some old papers and subsequently found the original birth certificate for ‘baby girl Kinney’. His mother never questioned what he wanted with the old papers; she probably just assumed that he was looking for some of his own stuff. He took the birth certificate with him and left not telling her about Cat.

On Saturday, Cat and her family arrived around one in order for them to meet Brian and Justin without the whole family there. Melanie and Lindsay had taken the kids to visit with Lindsay’s parents for the day and would be back about an hour before the rest of the family would arrive.

Brian went to open the door when the bell rang.

“Hi Cat I’m so glad you could make it.”

“Me too Brian. This is my husband Craig, and this is Luke and Kate.” Brian had cringed a little at her husbands name but shook hands with all of them.

“Come on in, Justin and the boys are in the living room.”

“Hi Cat, it’s nice to see you again.” Justin gave her a little hug.

“You too Justin, this is Craig, Kate and Luke. Guys this is Justin Brian’s husband.”

“Hi, Justin it’s really nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you from Cat this past week.”

“Well she did get an earful on Monday, so it could be both good and bad I guess.” Justin smiles brightly and Craig laughs.

“You’re right Cat; I do see why Brian calls him Sunshine.” Justin blushes again.

“Well before I turn completely red I would like you to meet John and Peter. Boys come here there is someone we would like you to meet. John, Peter this is your Aunt Cat, Uncle Craig and your cousins Kate and Luke.”

“Uncle Justin, I don’t understand. How are they our aunt and uncle?”

“Well John, apparently your grandparents had a little girl about seven months after they were married. They put the girl up for adoption and she found me last Monday. Cat is actually my sister and therefore also your mother’s sister.” Brian explained.

“Wow, grandma and grandpa had sex before they were married. I guess all the rules in the bible only apply to other people, and not to grandma herself.” John sounded bitter.

“John that was not a nice thing to say about your grandmother.”

“I’m sorry Uncle Brian, but you know I’m right. She tells you that you are going to hell for being gay, but conveniently forgets that she made a child out of wedlock. She really is a hypocrite.”

“I didn’t know that you were so angry with her. When you first came to live here you said she was always nice to you.” Brian looked confused.

“Yeah, but since then we have found out that you and Uncle Justin have more love between you than all of grandma’s church group put together.”

Both Brian and Justin blushed at that but looked very pleased at the same time.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Aunt Cat and Uncle Craig. Can we take Kate and Luke to the media room? We would like to get to know our new cousins.”

“If it’s ok with their parents I don’t see why not.” Justin told the boy.

“May we mom? Please.”

“Sure honey, go ahead.”

Thanks mom.” They said at the same time and followed John and Peter out.

“Well that was a little more information about our mother than I planed on giving you tonight. I really didn’t know they felt that way about her.”

“That’s ok Brian. I already gathered from my visit with her that she was less than nice.”

“Well sit down, can we get you something to drink, or would you like a tour of the house first? We just moved in three months ago.”

“I would love a tour, but first I’d like to know who painted all the pieces you have in here.” Craig said.

“Justin did. He's an amazing artist as you can see.” Brian’s pride was evident.

“Really? Justin they are really good. Do you exhibit your work anywhere?”

“Not at the moment, but Brian and I are starting a new gallery in Pittsburgh. Half of the gallery will exhibit my work at all time.”

“What are you planning to do with the rest of the gallery?”

“Young artists just out of college or if they are really talented some that still go to school. We actually have an agreement with the dean to recommend us to the best students. We have already received quite a few applications.”

“Applications? Don’t you just exhibit the best work presented to you?”

“No we have a whole new concept. The second floor of the gallery is divided in to a large studio for me and four smaller studios. The smaller ones will be rented out to the artists who will be featured in the gallery. We have accepted applications from young artists and if we feel they have something new and interesting to bring to the table we will let them use one of our studios for six months and then give them a show of the work they have done in that time period.”

“That’s a great opportunity for a young artist. A lot of artists have trouble finding good affordable studio space; I hope you will not charge them too much.”

“No we won’t, but it is not only a studio, there is small apartments attached to each studio. Only one room with an open kitchen and a small bathroom, but if you are a starving artist, it will be like heaven. They will still have to work a job besides painting but the rent will be extremely reasonable. They will have to sign a contract with us to ensure that they will not give their work to another gallery when the six month is up, but after that they are free to do whatever they want to do.”

“That’s some concept. I have never heard of anything like that before. The lucky artists will get the opportunity of a lifetime.”

“That’s the plan.” Brian interjected.

“We hope that the gallery will be a big success, both for my sake and for the sake of the young artists.” Justin smiled impishly and the others laughed.

“Should we start the tour before the girls come back?”

“The girls?” Craig looks confused.

“Our friends Melanie and Lindsay are staying with us for the week. They are the mothers of Brian’s son...” Brian interrupts him “Our son Justin.” Justin smiles. “Ok our son. And Michael’s daughter, Michael is Brian’s friend from high school. You will meet everybody later and I promise that we will explain everybody’s connection.”

“Ok, let’s have the grand tour.”

When they came to Justin’s studio, Craig walked around and took a long time looking at every painting.

“These are amazing Justin, you are really talented.”

“Thank you. That means a lot coming from an art professor.”

“Have you gone to art school?”

“I actually went to PIFA but I never graduated. A lot of things happened and I decided not to finish.”

“I’d like to hear that story some time.”

“Well seeing as you are staying in the neighborhood, there will be time to tell you everything.” Justin smiled brightly at them.

“Have you found a place yet?” Brian wondered.

“No, we have been looking but nothing really appeals to us.”

“Have you been looking in Waynesburg?”

“Not yet but we have been thinking about it since I met you, and if Kate and Luke gets along with Peter and John we might consider it for their sake. It would be nice for them to already know somebody at their new school.”

“We wouldn’t particularly mind having you close either.” Brian says with a small smile.

They step into the media room in the middle of a great war against some aliens on the big TV screen.

“Jesus, this is like a dream room for a kid.” Cat says.

“Yeah, it really is, John and Peter are really not happy with our one hour a day rule. They always use every opportunity they can to spend longer in here, like when we have guests.” Justin laughs.

“That’s not the only reason Uncle Justin; this is a great way to get to know other kids.” Peter said.

“I know Peter, I was just teasing you. It won’t be long before Molly, Hunter, Gus and JR will be joining you.”

“Ok Uncle Justin. we promise to look after JR and not play any of the violent games as long as the little ones are in here.”

“Thanks guys.”

When they get back to the living room Brian gets everyone a drink and just as he sits down the girls come back with the kids.

“Daddy, Pops. Are the special guests here yet?” Gus runs in nearly screaming.

“Yes Gus, they are here. Come here and say hello to your Aunt Cat and Uncle Craig.”

“Not Pops’ dad is it?”

“No Little Man, not my father. This is your Uncle Craig.”

“Ok, hello. My name is Gus Kinney Peterson-Marcus.”

“Hello Gus that is a mighty fine name you have there.”

“It should be Gus Taylor-Kinney Peterson-Marcus and momma has promised me to have it changed.”

Justin looks at Melanie who just smiles and nods. Justin goes to the girls and hugs both of them.

“Thank you so much, you have no idea how grateful I am.”

“I think we have a good idea. We figured it was only fair. After all you are his parent too.” Lindsay said.

“Thank you.” Brian says with shining eyes.

“Sorry about that, Melanie, Lindsay I would like you to meet my long lost sister Cat and her husband Craig.” Brian says with a huge smile.

“Your sister? How did that happen?” Mel asks.

“I would like to wait with the explanation until the whole family is here; otherwise I have to tell it over and over again.”

“Ok. It’s nice to meet you. Welcome to the family.”

“Thank you Lindsay, it has been quite a chock to discover that I have such a large extended family here.” Cat tells them.

“I can imagine.”

“Oh, sorry, this is JR, or if we should do it the Gus way. Jenny Rebecca Novotny-Bruckner Peterson-Marcus.”

“That’s a very big name for a little girl. Hello pretty.” Cat coos to the girl. JR laughs.

“Gus, would you take JR to the media room. John, Peter, Kate, and Luke are already there. Kate and Luke are Cat and Craig’s kids and your new cousins.”

“Ok Pops, come on JR.” Gus takes his sisters hand and they walk slowly to the media room.

“How old are your children?” Melanie asks.

“Fourteen, twins.” Cat laughs.

“It must be a handful to have two at that age.”

“It is, but Brian and Justin you have kids that age, what do you say?”

“Actually we are lucky enough that they are not nearly as bad as we had feared. They were holy terrors before they came to live here. We were prepared for a fight and there have been almost none.” It was clear that Justin was happy with the boys.

“It’s weird but I keep forgetting that you are John and Peter’s foster parents, I guess I never imagined Brian being a full time parent.” Lindsay said not seeing the hurt look in Brian’s eyes, Justin and Cat both saw it though.

“I don’t see why not, Brian is a wonderful father to John and Peter even if we are only their uncles. They respect him immensely and love him unconditionally.”

Brian looked at Justin and mouthed a ‘thank you’. Justin just smiled at him.

Justin opened the door when the rest of the family arrived at the same time.

“What did you do, drive in a caravan?”

“We actually did, but not on purpose, we just seamed to meet each other on the I79. Hello sweetheart how are you?”

“We’re fine mom, how about you?”

“We’re fine too.”

“Hello everybody we are in the living room, come on in and meet the mystery guests.”

When the door rang, Brian had gone to get the kids from the media room and they were now all in the living room.

“Everybody I would like you to meet Cat, Craig, Luke and Kate White. On Monday, Cat came to my office at Kinnetik to talk to, well me, but she ended up talking to both Justin and I. She told us her lives story about how her parents had loved her but her father died five years ago and her mother followed him six months ago. Before her mother died, she told Cat that she was adopted. Cat then hired a PI to try to look into finding out who her birth mother was. It turns out that good old Jack Kinney got his then girlfriend pregnant. He married her but they still gave their daughter up for adoption three hours after she was born. As you probably have figured out already, Cat is my sister and yours Claire.”

All of them stood and stared at them until Claire walked up to Cat and threw her arms around her.

“I knew it; mom sometimes looked at me with a funny expression on her face and called me baby girl Kinney. When I asked her about it, she would get really mad and make me promise never to talk about it with dad. One day I found a birth certificate without a name, it just said baby girl Kinney. I thought you had died, I never imagined that they had given you up for adoption.”

“You found my original birth certificate?” Cat’s eyes had gotten really big.

“Yes I did. I’m sorry I don’t know where it is anymore, I put it back where I found it.”

“I know where it is, I went to mother’s house on Thursday and looked through all her old papers and found it, I have it right here.” Brian took out the certificate from his pocket.

“Oh my god Brian, thank you so much. That really means a lot to me.”

Cat gave him a hug and Craig shook his hand.

“She has been talking about that certificate for as long as she has known she was adopted.”

“Shit kiddo, you have another sister. Congratulations honey.”

“Thanks maw. Let me make the introduction of everybody shall I? Let’s start here. As you have guessed this is our sister Claire, John and Peter are her demon spawn.” Brian smirked at the boys. Who just stuck their tongues out at him. “This is Debbie, my surrogate mother since I was fourteen, her fiancée Carl, her son Michael, Michael’s partner Ben, their son Hunter, Justin’s mother Jennifer, her boyfriend Tucker, Justin’s sister Molly, Ted our good friend and the SFO of Kinnetik, his partner Blake, you already met Lindsay and Melanie and the kids with the very long names, last but not least is all our fairy godmother Emmett and his partner Drew.” Michael looked none to happy at that introduction he didn’t like just being Debbie’s son and not Brian’s best friend.

“Drew Boyd, oh my god, this is so awesome. I’m in the same family as Drew Boyd.” Luke said and his parents laughed loudly.

“Sorry about that Drew, but I think that Luke might be one of your biggest fans despite the fact that we are from New York.” Craig said.

“That’s all right. I’m just happy to still have some fans after I came out.”

“Who cares who you fuck? its how you play the game that matters.”

“Language Luke.” His mother said and all of the Liberty Avenue gang started laughing loudly.

“What?”

“If he is going to be part of this family you might as well get used to that kind of language.” Jennifer said. “Trust me, I had my own trouble with it in the beginning, but now I swear with the best of them, well except maybe Debbie and Brian.”

“Oh and just for the record, I care who he fucks.” Emmett threw in and they all laughed again.

“I can see that we have landed in a lively bunch here Cat. I think I’m gonna like living here.”

“Yeah me too. I think I like being part of a big family.”

Brian and Claire smiled widely.


	11. Horses and electronics

When Sunday rolled around, and the horses finally arrived, all five occupants of Britin, including Gus, went out to the driveway to greet the driver. When the horses were led to the stables, it appeared that there were two extra ponies in the transport.

“Brian, what are those?”

“Those are Gus and JR’s ponies,” he replied tongue in cheek.

Gus squealed and clapped his hands.

“Is that my horsy, Daddy? Really?”

“Yes, Gus, really. Do you like him?”

“I love him.” Gus hugged Brian fiercely and Brian laughed happily.

“You do know that JR is only a year and a half, right?” Justin asked with a little laugh.

“Of course I do, but I can’t very well buy a pony for Gus and not buy one for JR.”

“I guess you’re right. Mel would freak and Michael would be pissed.” Justin gave him a small smirk. “I’m glad we hired Heather to take care of the horses and the stables. We would have drowned within a week, and the fact that she is an equestrienne and can continue with our lessons is a plus.”

“That is part of the reason we chose her.”

When the horses were all in their stalls and Heather had made sure they were alright, they said goodbye to her and went back to the house.

“When can we have our first lesson on our horses, Uncle Brian?” Peter asked happily.

“They need to acclimate to life at Britin before we start riding them. Heather told us that there was a good risk of them bucking us off if we take them out too soon. We really don’t want that to happen our first time, do we?”

“No.” Peter’s eyes had gotten really big.

“Let’s give them a couple of days and then ask Heather what she thinks, alright?”

“Alright, Uncle Brian.”

On Wednesday, Brian left the office at noon, and came home for their first lesson on their own horses. They were all really excited and went to the stables just after lunch.

“Hey everybody, are you ready?”

“YES,” John and Peter were almost shouting.

“Ok then, let’s start by learning to saddle the horses. I know that you have only ridden on already saddled horses and, therefore, never learned that.”

Everybody looked at her dubiously and then followed her into the saddle room. They each got a saddle and went to their own horse and learned all about saddling a horse. Heather saddled Gus’ pony. When that was done they took the horses to the riding grounds that had been established and got on for the first time. All five smiled from ear to ear and started their lesson. Heather walked alongside Gus and his pony while she instructed the others. Gus was having the time of his life.

“Uncle Brian, that was so cool. Can I call Bobby and tell him about it?” Peter asked when they had put the horses back in their stalls and rubbed them down, and were walking to the house.

“Yes, after you wash up. You know the rules. We only want riding clothes in the mudroom, and nowhere else.”

“Yes, Uncle Brian.”

“Can I call Eric and Erica too?”

“Of course, John, go ahead.”

The boys took off running and by the time Brian and Justin arrived at the mudroom, the boys were already gone.

“Wow that was fast. They must have really wanted to call their friends.” Justin chuckled and Brian smiled at him.

“Yeah, but can you really blame them? Claire has never really had all that much money, and I’m sure the thought of once having their own horses hadn’t ever entered their minds.”

“I know, I’m glad we can do these things for them.”

“Me too, Sunshine, me too.”

Two weeks later, Cat and Craig had found the perfect house for their needs, and it was down the road from Britin. Kate and Luke had been enrolled at Waynesburg Central High School together with Peter and Bobby. They were all happy about that; it was always nice to have someone you know with you, when you start a new school.

Two weeks after having found the house, they invited Brian and Justin to see it. They hadn’t started moving in yet, but the moving vans would arrive later that day, and both men had promised to help moving them into the house.

“There is an electronics guy coming in this morning. We want someone to advise us as to what would be the best for us. We are buying two TVs, an entertainment center, five stereos, four laptops and equipment for video conferencing. When we said that in the store, the owner told us that he would be out here himself.”

“That’s the least he can do; you’re potentially giving him a shitload of money,” Brian told his sister and brother-in-law.

When the trucks arrived, they started unloading and carrying all the stuff in the house. The boys and Kate took it upon themselves to take all of the stuff for the kids rooms up and left the rest to the grown ups. When they had been at it for about thirty minutes, they took a break to get something to drink and rest a little. A Lexus drove up to the house and Cat went to greet the man behind the wheel. They both walked inside and came to the living room where everybody but Justin was seated.

“Everybody, this is….” She never got any further before Brian interrupted her.

“I’m sorry, Cat, you cannot buy so much as a battery from this man.” Brian was sneering at the man.

“You.” The venom was evident.

“What are you talking about, Brian? Do you two know each other?”

“He is a child molester and he corrupted an innocent boy and turned him into an abomination.”

Both Craig (White) and Cat looked at Brian in shock.

“Well since the age of consent in Pennsylvania is sixteen, and I was seventeen at the time, that kind of takes care of the child molesting thing. And as for him corrupting me, I desperately wanted to get corrupted. I went to Liberty Avenue that night in the hopes of losing my virginity, and I got a lot more than I had expected. Lastly, Brian didn’t make me gay, I have been gay my entire life.” All of them had turned towards the door when Justin had started talking.

“Justin, what are you doing here?”

“This is the house of my sister- and brother-in-law. We’re helping them move in. My guess is that you will not get their business, Craig. You might as well leave right now.”

“What do you mean your sister- and brother-in-law?”

“This is Cat, Brian’s sister and her husband, and considering that Brian and I are married that makes them my in-laws.”

“Married? You married that pervert?”

“Excuse me, how do you know this man, Justin?” Cat asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Cat, this is Craig Taylor, the man who was married to my mother and provided the sperm for my conception.”

“He’s your father?”

“No, he stopped being my father some time ago. Maybe when he rammed Brian’s jeep twice, or when he jumped him and beat him up outside of Babylon, or when he refused to pay me tuition for PIFA, or when he had me arrested for demonstration outside his store. I’m not quite sure when he stopped being my father, but it was a long time ago.”

Craig looked like he had eaten a lemon when he looked from Justin to Brian.

“I’m sorry, Cat, of course you can buy for several thousands of dollars at any store, but I would not recommend buying from this bigoted homophobe.”

“No, Justin, you’re right. After what you have told us I could never shop at his store. I’m sorry, Mr. Taylor, you just lost a substantial sale. Justin is family and I have no intention of buying a thing from someone who has treated him and my brother the way you obviously have.”

Craig left, but not before sending both Brian and Justin a scathing look.

“Was that Pops’ dad? I didn’t like him; he was mean.” Gus went to Justin and gave him a hug.

“Thank you Gus. I needed that.” Justin ruffled his hair and smiled at him.

“I’m sorry, Justin, I guess I should have conferred with you before shopping somewhere. I mean, you know the area, and know who are homophobes, and who aren’t.” Craig looked vexed.

“Don’t worry about it, Craig, you had no way of knowing. We should have told you about my father a long time ago. The problem with that is, that we try to forget that he even exists.”

“I can understand that. Did he really do all those things?” Cat asked.

“Yep, he really did. He’s quite a piece of work, that Craig Taylor. Both of us have been exceedingly lucky in the dad department,” Brian said sarcastically.

“I guess we have to find someone else, who can come and advise us on what will work best for us. We really need some of those things as soon as possible. I have to be able to communicate with the office in New York.”

“I’ll call the store I’ve always used. I’m sure they will help you fast and efficiently.” Brian took out his mobile and called the store. They promised to have someone out later that afternoon. They continued moving furniture and getting them moved in the right rooms for the decorators to move in to place. The decorators were already working on Kate and Luke’s rooms as well as the bedroom. They had decided they didn’t want to stay another night at the hotel.

When the man from the electronics store showed up, Craig and Cat gave him a tour of the house and told him what they needed.

Brian and Justin had gone home with the boys to have dinner. They made plans to get together for a day at the pool the next day.


	12. Tay-Kin art

On Monday, August fifteenth, Tay-Kin Art would open for business. Monday, the first the building was ready, and Justin’s paintings hung. They still hadn’t found someone to manage the gallery and Justin would be doing it until they found the perfect person. They had also decided to employ someone to act as a manager for the artists, including Justin.

The four artists who would occupy the four apartments had been selected and had moved in on the first as well. They all had some of their artwork in the ‘artists in residence’ area. These works would of course be changed as the artists had new work to exhibit.

The four artists had been selected based on recommendations from the dean at PIFA and on their own applications. They had each been to an interview with Justin, and he had made the final decision. It was three women and one man. The man, Chris, was twenty-three, and painted primarily on large scale canvas. His girlfriend, Liz, was a sculptor, and she had gotten another of the spots. She was twenty-two. The last two women were twenty-four and both painters. Their names were Alexa and Carol.

Chris and Liz had opened up the sliding walls between their two studios. That way, they could have a bedroom in one apartment and a living room in the other, and just walk through the studios to get from one to the other. All of the studios could be combined into one large studio by sliding walls, if the artists decided they wanted to work together on a project, or they just liked the company when they worked.

Alexa was a lesbian in a relationship with a woman named Trudy. Trudy would move in too. She studied at Carnegie Mellon to get her masters in English Lit.

Carol was straight as an arrow, and had a boyfriend. James was currently studying at the University of Philadelphia to get his MS in occupational Therapy. He would be at her apartment every now and then.

Justin was very pleased with ‘his artists’, as he liked to call them. They all complemented each other and their work looked good together on the walls of the gallery.

Kinnetik had done a spectacular ad campaign for the gallery and the buzz could be heard all the way to New York. It was such a novel idea that a gallery would have apartments and studio space for young artists that even the more serious art magazines took notice.

All of this meant that the gallery was packed on opening night. Justin and Brian couldn’t have been happier. All of the family was there, and that, in and of itself, was a lot of people. Even Lindsay and Melanie had driven down from Toronto to be there on the big occasion.

“Hey, sweetie, this is really great. It’s an amazing concept. Who is your manager?” Lindsay and Melanie had cornered Justin and Brian about half an hour after the opening.

“We haven’t found one yet. All the applicants were in some way wrong for the gallery. We haven’t found anybody who would be able to handle working with the artists in residence.”

“I can see where that would be a problem. Have you found a manager for you yet?” Lindsay asked.

“No, but we have decided to employ someone here. This person would act as my manager, but also as a manager for the young artists as long as they live here and for an additional six months, until they can find someone else.”

Lindsay and Melanie just looked at each other and smiled slightly.

“We’ll just look a little more at the exhibit, and then we’ll talk to at the after party.”

“Sure, Mel, see you then. Enjoy the exhibit.” Justin smiled and winked at them.

Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves, and Justin gave a lot of interviews to journalists from various magazines.

When everybody except the family had left, Chris, Liz, Alexa and Carol with their partners, went out to celebrate on their own.

“Everybody, I would like to thank you all for coming tonight. It meant a lot to Brian and I to see all of you. I hope you enjoy yourselves and eat a lot of food. I know that Emmett and Darrin put a lot of hard work into tonight’s spread.”

A little later, Melanie and Lindsay asked to speak to Justin and Brian in private. Justin led them to the manager’s office and closed the door.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Brian was a little concerned.

“Well, in a way something is wrong,” Lindsay says hesitantly. “We have found out that moving to Toronto was a bad idea. We may not get discriminated against because we are gay, but we get discriminated against because we are American. I can’t get a job, Mel would have to go back to school to be able to practice in Canada, and Gus and JR don’t have any friends up there. We have talked about this for a very long time and have decided that we are moving back home to Pittsburgh.” Lindsay looked at them expectantly and she wasn’t disappointed.

Brian smiled brightly and turned to look at Justin.

“Sonnyboy is coming home.” His eyes were shining with unshed tears.

“I know; it’s amazing.” Justin gave him a tight hug and a little kiss.

“There is more,” Mel said.

“More? What more could there be?” Brian was confused.

“We would like to apply for the jobs as managers of the gallery and artists, respectively. I know that I don’t have all the connections in the art world that most managers have, but Lindsay does and she can help me in the beginning. I do, however, have a law degree and can help in all legal parts of the job. You know that Lindsay would be great as manager of the gallery and this way we could compliment and help each other.” Mel looked at them as if she expected them to shoot her down at any minute. Brian and Justin just stared at her for a very long time before Brian took Justin’s hand and led him to the door.

“We have to talk about this. We’ll be back soon,” he said in parting.

“What do you think, Sunshine? Do you think that Melanie could do the job? We know that Lindsay would be great at managing the gallery and they are right, she does have some connections in the art world that could work in our favor. The main problem is whether Mel would be up to the task.”

“I actually think she would be great at it. She may not have the connections, but that can be remedied. She is a bulldog when she is fighting for something and she does have knowledge about art; how could she not living with Lindsay? I think this might just solve our problem.” Justin smiled at his husband and they went back to the office.

“You’re hired,” Brian said as they walked in the door.

“That’s wonderful, thank you so much guys.”

“No, thank you. You have no idea how many applications we have read and how many interviews we have done. And the fact that you are moving back is the best news we have had in a long time.” Justin smiled brightly at the women.

“Should we go tell the family?” Mel asked.

“Let’s. I’m sure Mikey and Debbie will be thrilled. When are you coming back by the way?”

“We have to pack up the apartment in Toronto and find somewhere to live, but I’d say about September first.”

Brian and Justin smiled brightly. The four of them went back out to the gallery and Brian called for attention.

“Everybody, I have an announcement to make. Justin and I have finally found the two people that we think will fit in the two managing positions here at Tay-Kin Art. This, at the same time as finding out that the girls are bringing our children home to live close to their family again.”

At first, the room went completely still, and then everybody started talking at once.

“Pffttt,” Brian whistled loudly, and everybody went quiet again.

“Thanks, Brian. Yes. Lindsay and I have decided to come back home. We moved to Toronto for all the wrong reasons and out of fear. We have learned since that prejudice is everywhere. We asked Brian and Justin if they would consider hiring us in the two managing positions and they, thankfully, accepted. We will be back in Pittsburgh, hopefully, around September first, barring no unforeseen events. We hope that you will help us look for a house, Jennifer. We can talk a little later about what we will be looking for.”

“I would love to help you. Gus is practically my grandson and I couldn’t be happier that all of you are moving back home. It’s wonderful news.”

“It’s fucking fantastic; the whole family will be together again,” Debbie said with tears in her eyes.

“Sunshine, I think your allergies are contagious,” Brian said looking at all the wet eyes in the room.

“Oh, pooh, you know that you are as happy if not more so, than everybody here,” Justin snarked back.

The rest of the evening went smoothly and everybody talked about the great news. Lindsay and Melanie talked some more to Brian and Justin about their new jobs. All in all, it was a very happy and successful evening for the Liberty Avenue family.


	13. Christmas at Britin

Jennifer found a house for the girls fairly quickly. It was close to Liberty Avenue and Tay-Kin Art. It had three bedrooms, a bathroom, and an extra separate toilet upstairs. Downstairs was a kitchen, dining room, living room and a toilet. It was a lot like their old house, but had a lot of differences too. The yard was larger and the rooms for the kids were, too.

The previous owners had already moved, and they accepted the girls’ offer immediately. They could move in on September 15th and all of the family helped them move in.

They started work on Saturday, September 16th. It was mainly Lindsay who had a lot of work to do in the beginning, but Mel jumped right in and used all of her wife’s connections in the art world, along with the great reviews the gallery and artists had gotten, to talk to galleries around the country.

She wasn’t working too much for the other artists; she mainly focused on Justin in the beginning, but soon started ‘pushing’ their art on the rest of the art world, too.

She managed to get Justin a solo show in a small but prestigious gallery in Chicago for the beginning of the New Year, and he was working like a fiend to get the required pieces ready. He always worked during the day and spent the evenings with Brian and the boys. They were all very happy for him and planned on going to Chicago with him for the opening.

Now, it was almost Christmas. They had invited the entire family for Christmas Eve, and they would all be there again on Christmas morning to watch the kids open their presents. It would be a very large number of people for dinner, and Mrs. Jacobson would be cooking up a storm. She and Mr. Jacobson had their children and grandchildren for Christmas, and they were looking very much forward to that. She was cooking for her own family at the same time as cooking for the Taylor-Kinney family, and she was having a ball. She absolutely loved to cook for a lot of people, and this Christmas she had a houseful.

Two weeks before Christmas, Brian got a phone call at Kinnetik.

“Hello, Brian. It’s your mother.”

“What can I do for you, Joan?”

He very deliberately used her name instead of calling her mom. He really felt that she had lost all right to be called that.

“I talked to Claire yesterday and she tells me that she is going to your house for Christmas.”

“Yes, since her sons live there, it seemed the most natural place for her,”

he answered her sarcastically.

“If she and the boys will be at your house, I’m going to be all alone.”

“How is that any concern of mine?”

“Brian, please, don’t be so cold.”

“Cold? You dare call me cold? After the way you treated me my entire childhood, the way you never stepped in when Pops was beating the living daylight out of me? How the fuck dare you call me that?”

“Brian, that is all in the past. Couldn’t you let Claire have the boys for Christmas so they can come to my house?”

“No.”

They were both silent for a long time before Joan started talking again.

“Could I come to your house for Christmas then? Please, Brian.”

“You do realize that there will be a lot of gay people there, right?” He just remembered something. “And my sister will be there, too.”

“Of course your sister will be there. That’s why I want to be there.”

“I don’t mean Claire. I mean Cat, also known as Baby Girl Kinney.”

Joan gasped.

“How do you know about her?”

she whispered.

“Well, her parents told her that she was adopted and she hired a private detective to try and find her birth parents. She even turned up at your doorstep, but considering that you were drunk off your ass, as usual, you probably don’t remember that. When you turned her away, she looked me up, and we have seen each other a lot since then. She and her family moved here in May. They live not too far from us, and her children go to school with Peter.”

“She has children? I have more grandchildren?”

“Yes and no. Cat has children, but I highly doubt she would want you to be their grandmother anymore than I want you to be one for my son.”

“Brian, why are you being so cruel?”

“I’m not being cruel; I’m being honest. Look, about Christmas, I will have to talk to Justin, Claire, the boys and Cat before I can give you an answer. I’m not the only one it would affect if you were to be there. I can promise you one thing, though. If we do let you be there, you had better be sober, and on your best behavior. No talk about going to hell and no derogatory remarks about anyone.”

“I don’t get drunk like your father used to. I promise to be respectful to your friends.”

“I’ll talk to them and get back to you.”

With that, he hung up the phone and called his sisters to invite them over for dinner and a little family meeting. They both agreed to be there.

That evening, after dinner, Brian told all of them about his conversation with their mother. After a very long discussion, they decided that she could be there for Christmas, but with the first wrong word or move, she would be sent home; they had a zero tolerance policy with her.

Christmas Eve arrived with snow-covered lawns at Britin and a house full of people. Brian did the introductions.

“Joan, you know Deb, Michael and Lindsay; you have met Mel, Emmett, Ted and Justin. Next to Deb is her boyfriend Carl; next to Michael is his husband, Ben and their son Hunter. Emmett’s boyfriend is Drew and Ted’s is Blake. This is my mother-in-law, Jennifer, her boyfriend Tucker and my sister-in-law, Molly.” Molly blushed at that introduction and Justin smiled brightly at Brian. “This is our son, Gus and his little sister JR. Last but not least, this is my sister, Cat, her husband Craig and their children Kate and Luke. For those of you who don’t know, this is my mother, Joan.”

They all greeted her and Deb went over to talk to her. Joan kept looking at Cat and her family. When dinner was ready, Justin called them all to the table, and they all sat down to eat. Mrs. Jacobson had put the turkey in the oven before leaving to go home and all they had to do themselves was baste it once in a while during the day.

They had a pleasant dinner and Joan was on her best behavior. She was at the other end of the table from Cat, Craig and the kids, but sat between John and Peter. She enjoyed talking to them and hearing about all the things going on in their lives.

“Uncle Brian and Uncle Justin got me a car for my birthday and I drive Luke, Kate, and Peter to and from school every day. We usually end up either here or at their place and do our homework together. Most days our friends Eric, Erica, and Bobby joins us. Eric and Erica have a car of their own and Bobby gets a ride with them. When we are done with our homework, we usually spend about an hour together before we all have to do our chores.”

“You have chores?”

“Of course we do.”

Peter looked shocked that she would even ask that.

“What kind of chores? I thought you had a housekeeper.”

“We do, but we have to keep our own rooms tidy, we take out the trash, we set the table for dinner and clear it out after. We muck the stables on the weekends, but only because there isn’t enough time for us to do it on the weekdays. We also have to study and get as good grades as we possibly can. Uncle Justin is very good about helping us, and even Uncle Brian helps if he gets home early some days.”

“Why do you call him Uncle Justin? He is not related to you.”

“Sure he is; he’s married to Uncle Brian. Aunt Cat’s husband is Uncle Craig.”

“But, that’s not the same.”

“Joan, you are treading on very thin ice right now.”

Justin was sitting next to his mother who had Peter on her other side.

“You know the conditions Brian gave for your participation of tonight’s Christmas celebration, and trying to turn the boys against us is definitely not on the list of smart things to do if you want to stay here.”

She snapped her mouth shut, but gave Justin a glare.

“Don’t do that, Grandma; we love Uncle Brian and Uncle Justin; there is nothing you can say that would convince us that what they share is bad. They are some of the nicest people we have ever met and they have treated us much better than you would expect, considering what I tried to do to Uncle Brian.”

John looked ashamed when he said the last part. Justin gave him a big smile.

“You know that your uncle has forgiven you for that, John. He doesn’t hold any grudges against you.”

“I know, Uncle Justin, but maybe he should.”

“Why? What would that accomplish? The fact that you have turned your life around and don’t think like that about him anymore is apology enough for him.”

John blushed and nodded his head.

“Thanks, Uncle Justin.”

“Anytime, Johnny, anytime.”

The rest of the dinner went without incident, and after they had all helped cleaning out the table, they went into the living room to open one present each.

When the evening came to an end and everybody was leaving, Joan pulled Brian aside.

“Thank you so much, Brian, for letting me be here today.”

“Don’t thank me; I was against the idea from the start. Claire and Cat weren’t too keen on the prospect either. It’s Justin you owe your thanks to. He’s the one who told us that our children deserved a chance to get to meet their grandmother, even if it was only for one evening, and that John and Peter had actually liked you when they came to live with us.”

“Justin is the one who convinced you to let me be here?”

“Yes, he is a very forgiving man, Joan; he is willing to give everybody a second and sometimes even a third chance; don’t blow the one you’ve been given.”

With that, he walked her to the door and her car. He was glad he didn’t have to call her a cab due to her being drunk; he had kept an eye on her all evening and she hadn’t had anything to drink, except water. He was very happy about that, for the children’s sake.

When he and Justin were finally in their bed after having said goodnight to the boys, he told his husband how much he loved him and then proceeded to make slow, passionate love to him.


	14. The show

The time for Justin’s show was drawing nearer and his nerves were starting to get a little frayed. He was scared that nobody would buy any of his art. Brian did what he could to appease him; Lindsay did her best, too, but Justin was still a little scared. He didn’t even know why, exactly; it wasn’t really his first show and he had gotten wonderful reviews at all his previous shows. There was just something different about this one.

All the pieces for the show were done and shipped; all he had to do now was go to Chicago and hang them. Not that he would have to physically hang them, but he did have final say in the order and placement of each piece.

Justin would be in Chicago a week prior to the show while Brian and the boys stayed home. They would join him on Friday night. The opening of the show was on Saturday and the four of them would stay all of Sunday and then go home Monday, which was Presidents’ Day, and the boys, therefore, didn’t have school. Most of the rest of the family would get in on Saturday.

Brian booked a Grand Deluxe 2 bedroom King Suite Lake View at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago even though Justin would be staying there 4 nights on his own.

“You need to relax when you’re not at the gallery. Besides, it’s not like we can’t afford it.”

“I know; it just seems a little over the top. I could have just stayed in a single room until you guys get here and then moved to the suite.”

“That’s all too much hassle, Sunshine. It’s better this way; you’re too tightly wound as it is without adding the stress of relocating the night before the show.”

“Ok, I see your point. What about the rest of the family?”

“They are booking their own rooms. Not all of them can afford ‘Trump’ and I’m quite sure they would be offended if we offered to pay for them.”

“Yeah, they would be. Are Cat, Craig and the kids going to be able to be there?”

“Yeah, thankfully, the whole mess with the New York office got sorted out, so they’ll join me and the boys on Friday. They wanted the mini vacation, too.”

Justin could hear the smirk in Brian’s voice over the phone.

“I’m glad it all worked out. Are they staying here, too?”

“Yeah, they got a suite on the same floor. I think there’s a room between them and us. Luke and Kate are not thrilled with the idea of having to share a bedroom for three nights, though.”

Brian chuckled a little and Justin couldn’t help but join in.

“I guess they are at an age where you most definitely do not want your sibling to see you naked. Good thing the bathrooms are as big as they are.”

“Well, they’ll just have to swallow their pride and suck it up, according to both Cat and Craig.”

They fell silent, just listening to each other breathe.

“I miss you, Brian; I hate being away from you and the boys.”

“I know, Sunshine, me too. The boys miss you too; they are looking forward to this trip.”

“Tell them I miss them and I’ll try to call them tomorrow, ok?”

“I will, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow, too.”

“Later, Brian.”

“Later, Sunshine, I love you.”

With that, Brian hung up the phone and settled down to sleep, not that he anticipated getting a lot of that. He had been sleeping for shit since Justin left; god, he couldn’t wait to see him again. One more day, just one more day.

Friday arrived cold and crisp. Brian took the boys to school and promised to pick them up as soon as school let out. They would go directly to the airport and fly out to meet Justin.

After having dropped the boys off, Brian went back home and packed all their bags, checked the house and said his goodbyes to Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson and Heather before getting back in the car. Cat and Craig joined him in their car. They drove to the school and picked up all the kids before heading to the airport.

The flight was blissfully short, and then, finally, Brian was holding his husband again. For a second, he considered dragging him into the nearest bathroom and fucking the everlasting shit out of him, but he refrained since they weren’t alone. Peter and John both hugged their uncle, and then, they were all off.

Justin had arranged a limo and the kids all squealed until the boys found out that it was maybe a little too “girly”.

“You better not mean gay, or I might just have to kick all of your asses to prove how tough I am.”

Justin was glaring at the boys, and for a second, they looked worried, until he flexed his arm to show off his muscles. When they saw that, they all broke down giggling.

“What? You’re not scared of me, why not?”

Justin was fake pouting and the other three adults chuckled at the kids almost rolling around holding their stomachs they were laughing so hard. Justin couldn’t hold the pout for very long; he joined the chuckling, and that’s how they arrived at the hotel.

Cat and Craig went to check in while Justin took Brian and the boys to their room. John and Peter gawked at the suite and even more so at their room. Brian and Justin left them to unpack while they went to their own room; they had almost an entire week of missed sex to make up for and not a lot of time.

Once they surfaced, all four of them went to Sixteen, the hotel restaurant, to meet the rest of the family. They had a very pleasant dinner and talked about what they wanted to do the next day, before the show.

“I wanted to see the Shedd Aquarium. Could we do that one of the days?”

Peter sounded almost shy, like he was scared of being shot down.

“That actually sounds like a great idea for tomorrow; it’s something we can all do, and it’s all in the same place so we won’t have to commute all over town.”

Justin ruffled Peter’s hair.

“Uncle Justin, you’re messing up the hair,”

he whined, but then, he grinned. He had missed his other uncle.

The rest of the table all agreed that going to the aquarium was a good idea and that settled that. After dinner, they all went to their respective rooms to try to get a good night's sleep. It was going to be a long day the next day.

Saturday morning, they all met for breakfast in Brian and Justin’s suite before going to the aquarium. Brian had rented a limo for their use the three days they were there so transportation wouldn’t be a problem.

The aquarium turned out to be very interesting and actually managed to get Justin’s mind off the opening later that evening. They were all goofing around, having a great time, until it was time for an early dinner. They found a nice little Greek restaurant that could accommodate all eight of them and had a great meal before going back to the hotel to change before going to the gallery.

They were at the gallery about an hour before the show opened; Justin wanted to check everything one last time. Plus, he had to be there by the time the doors opened. Brian, Cat, Craig, and the kids all went around the room looking at all the paintings.

“These are very, very good, Justin, very strong.”

“Thanks, Craig.”

Justin smiled a little shyly and Brian chuckled softly.

“When did you become shy?”

Justin shrugged and Brian hugged him and whispered in his ear,

“They’re exquisite, Sunshine.”

Soon after, the door opened and the gallery started to fill, not only by the family, even though they were all there, but also by art lovers from Chicago. Quite a few critics were in attendance too, and Justin gave a lot of interviews that night. He had a great time, mainly because Brian was right next to him with a hand on the small of his back or an arm around his shoulder the whole time.

Mel had an extremely busy night; she was the one who got all the commissions from people who wanted a Justin Taylor original done exclusively for them, and there were a lot of those. When the night was over, the show was sold out and Mel had commissions enough to keep Justin busy for the next many months. All in all, the show was a resounding success.

Now, it was time to enjoy the rest of the mini vacation and then to go back home to their lives, and Justin couldn’t wait. He had missed Britin while in Chicago and he wanted a good long ride on his horse. Preferably with Brian, Peter and John next to him on their horses.


End file.
